judder
Americanverb (used without object)
-
judders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
juddered,
past participle, past
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juddering
present participle
noun
verb
noun
-
abnormal vibration in a mechanical system, esp due to grabbing between friction surfaces, as in the clutch of a motor vehicle
-
a juddering motion
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
juddersimple
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judderssimple
-
have judderedperfect
-
has judderedperfect
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am judderingprogressive
-
are judderingprogressive
-
is judderingprogressive
-
have been judderingperfect progressive
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has been judderingperfect progressive
Past
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judderedsimple
-
had judderedperfect
-
was judderingprogressive
-
were judderingprogressive
-
had been judderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of judder
First recorded in 1925–30; origin uncertain; perhaps j(olt) or j(erk) + (sh)udder
Explanation
To judder is to shake rapidly, almost vibrating. If your car's engine needs a tune-up, it may judder a bit when you first start it up or stop at a traffic light. The verb judder first appeared in the 1930s. Experts guess that its origin was imitative, approximating the sound and motion it describes, and influenced by jolt and shudder. Engines, steering wheels, and other vehicle parts are commonly said to judder. Once televisions became common, judder was also used to describe a specific choppy quality to a show being displayed in a different format than the one in which it was filmed.
Vocabulary lists containing judder
The Weight of Our Sky
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The Way Back
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The Boy Who Met a Whale
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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.
See Examples For:
When we are out of sync, he says, we experience it as a kind of judder or twinge of social discomfort which “is your brain working a little harder to fix predictions that are wrong.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Faces old and young watch the road, sitting atop piles of furniture, firewood, cookers and air conditioning units that judder precariously as the vehicles weave through traffic on their way to Afghanistan.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2023
AR use was at times visually busy: insects and starbursts appeared tangential to the action, and there were a few instances of slight judder.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2023
And the technique isn’t simply used for action scenes and fast camera movements, the most obvious potential sources of blur or judder.
From New York Times ● Jan. 2, 2023
The muted thunder of the plumbing—she had not noticed it begin—ceased with a judder that shook the air.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
After the recent IMF meetings, where central bankers vied to deliver hawkish messages, concerns are that policy screws will be tightened to an extent that growth judders to a halt.
From Reuters ● Apr. 25, 2022
No More Heroes 3 can’t hold anywhere near a solid 30fps when you’re driving your bike around the city — the constant hitches and judders honestly made me feel a little nauseous at points.
From The Verge ● Aug. 27, 2021
Apple told me that’s because it wants the interface and games to run as smoothly as possible; it’s found that the interface judders at 30Hz.
From The Verge ● Sep. 21, 2017
The camera judders as the speaker looks around, and MPs start to leave their seats before running from room, as the lights go out.
From The Guardian ● May 12, 2015
The train judders off, and in seconds we’re pulling into Witney station and people start jostling one another for position, folding newspapers and packing away tablets and e-readers as they prepare to disembark.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
As we started our left turn, though, the steering wheel spasmed and the brake pedal juddered.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2023
The old stadium was a seething mass of orange, barely a seat to be had, and it rocked and juddered as United found their rhythm.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2022
On the fringes of Sao Paulo, the hard-bitten suburb of Santo Andre was already a major manufacturing center by the time Hummes first juddered into town, a newly minted bishop in a dilapidated old car.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2022
I cemented my future place among the former as I juddered down the hill, my tender toes slamming into the fronts of my shoes.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2021
Her spine went rigid, then juddered along its length.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
We could talk about the juddering guitar noise that closes the track like somebody spilled hot water in the studio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2023
It’s nice to see all of those wonderful actors, but that enjoyment is tempered by the feeling that they’re interchangeable parts in a machine that is juddering along past its warranty date.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2023
A juddering, disorientating slice of synthpop, it was inspired by the siege Azovstal, and the civilians who defended the town's steel works.
From BBC ● May 12, 2023
It was a juddering comedown for a company which British billionaire Branson split off from his space tourism firm Virgin Galactic in 2017 with hopes of challenging Elon Musk's SpaceX.
From Reuters ● Apr. 8, 2023
In what seemed like no time, a man walked up and climbed onto the horse, flicked its reins, and we lurched into juddering motion.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
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.
