waver

¹

[wey-ver]

verb (used without object)

1. to sway to and fro; flutter.

   Foliage wavers in the breeze.

2. to flicker or quiver, as light.

   A distant beam wavered and then disappeared.

3. become unsteady; begin to fail or give way.

   When she heard the news her courage wavered.

4. to shake or tremble, as the hands or voice.

   Her voice wavered.

   Synonyms: quiver

5. to feel or show doubt, indecision, etc.; vacillate.

   He wavered in his determination.

6. (of things) to fluctuate or vary.

   Prices wavered.

7. to totter or reel.

   The earth quaked and the tower wavered.

noun

1. an act of wavering, fluttering, or vacillating.

waver

²

[wey-ver]

noun

1. a person who waves or causes something to wave.

   Election time brings out the wavers of flags and haranguers of mobs.

2. a person who specializes in waving hair.

3. something, as a curling iron, used for waving hair.

waver

/ ˈweɪvə /

verb

1. to be irresolute; hesitate between two possibilities

2. to become unsteady

3. to fluctuate or vary

4. to move back and forth or one way and another

5. (of light) to flicker or flash

noun

1. the act or an instance of wavering

Other Word Forms

• waverer noun
• unwavered adjective
• wavering adjective
• waveringly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of waver¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English waveren, waferen “to totter, swing”; cognate with Middle High German wabern “to waver,” dialectal German wabern “to move about,” Old Norse vafra “to hover about, roam”; wave, -er ⁶

Origin of waver²

First recorded in 1550–60; wave + -er ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of waver¹

C14: from Old Norse vafra to flicker; related to German wabern to move about

Synonym Study

Waver, fluctuate, vacillate refer to an alternation or hesitation between one direction and another. Waver means to hesitate between choices: to waver between two courses of action. Fluctuate suggests irregular change from one side to the other or up and down: The prices of stocks fluctuate when there is bad news followed by good. Vacillate is to make up one's mind and change it again suddenly; to be undecided as to what to do: We must not vacillate but must set a day.

Example Sentences

I grin and look out the window—but my smile wavers as I regard my parents’ navy-bricked town house.

Read more on Literature

His movements were slow and sluggish, so the letters wavered a bit, but once he’d finished, there it was.

Read more on Literature

Shares of Flutter were wavering in after-hours trading on the news, down 1% as of 5 p.m.

Read more on Barron's

Commissioner Rob Manfred said that the owners have stopped wavering about whether to interrupt the MLB season for a week so that baseball’s biggest stars can play in the Olympics.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Her income was modest, but her support towards her daughter's dreams did not waver.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• dither 
• falter 
• fluctuate 
• hedge 
• hesitate 
• oscillate 
• pause 
• quiver 
• seesaw 
• shake 
• sway 
• teeter 
• tremble 
• vacillate 
• vary 
• waffle 
• wobble