waver
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
to sway to and fro; flutter.
Foliage wavers in the breeze.
-
to flicker or quiver, as light.
A distant beam wavered and then disappeared.
-
become unsteady; begin to fail or give way.
When she heard the news her courage wavered.
-
to shake or tremble, as the hands or voice.
Her voice wavered.
- Synonyms:
- quiver
-
to feel or show doubt, indecision, etc.; vacillate.
He wavered in his determination.
-
(of things) to fluctuate or vary.
Prices wavered.
-
to totter or reel.
The earth quaked and the tower wavered.
noun
verb
-
to be irresolute; hesitate between two possibilities
-
to become unsteady
-
to fluctuate or vary
-
to move back and forth or one way and another
-
(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 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 waver1
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.
“There has never been a doubt in my mind about the fabric. From the moment I saw it, when Heidi and I started working on this project, I never wavered.”
From MarketWatch
The emcee, actor Edward James Olmos, welcomed the crowd with a wavering voice full of emotion.
From Los Angeles Times
My car never tires, panics or wavers; it doesn’t jolt at brake lights or grumble at traffic jams.
Moore earned the distinction of having been committed the longest, pledging his allegiance in November 2024 and never publicly wavering.
From Los Angeles Times
The one factor, ironically, that might yet derail its strong position in the Warner Bros. bidding is the stock market’s wavering confidence in the AI revolution.
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.
