waver
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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to sway to and fro; flutter.
Foliage wavers in the breeze.
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to flicker or quiver, as light.
A distant beam wavered and then disappeared.
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become unsteady; begin to fail or give way.
When she heard the news her courage wavered.
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to shake or tremble, as the hands or voice.
Her voice wavered.
- Synonyms:
- quiver
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to feel or show doubt, indecision, etc.; vacillate.
He wavered in his determination.
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(of things) to fluctuate or vary.
Prices wavered.
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to totter or reel.
The earth quaked and the tower wavered.
noun
verb
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to be irresolute; hesitate between two possibilities
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to become unsteady
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to fluctuate or vary
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to move back and forth or one way and another
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(of light) to flicker or flash
noun
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- unwavered adjective
- waverer noun
- wavering adjective
- waveringly adverb
Etymology
Origin of waver1
First recorded in 1550–60; wave + -er 1
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He referenced an emotional moment with his family in which he thanked his parents for never wavering.
"We reiterate that Virginia was a truth teller. Despite the death threats and smear campaigns against her, Virginia never wavered," Guiffre's two brothers and two sister-in-laws said.
From BBC
Maya-Jade was looking at him, holding two sweating cans of soda in her hand, waiting for his answer, her expression wavering between hurt and hope.
From Literature
The stock market wavered, then recovered through the day Friday, so who knows what those investors think?
From Los Angeles Times
I can hear the waver in my own voice.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
