quake
Americanverb (used without object)
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quakes,
present (3rd person singular)
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quaked,
past participle, past
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quaking
present participle
noun
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quakes
plural
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an earthquake.
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a trembling or tremulous agitation.
verb
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to shake or tremble with or as with fear
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to convulse or quiver, as from instability
noun
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the act or an instance of quaking
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informal short for earthquake
Synonym Usage
See shiver 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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quakesimple
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quakessimple
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have quakedperfect
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has quakedperfect
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am quakingprogressive
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are quakingprogressive
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is quakingprogressive
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have been quakingperfect progressive
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has been quakingperfect progressive
Past
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quakedsimple
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had quakedperfect
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was quakingprogressive
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were quakingprogressive
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had been quakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of quake
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English cwacian “to shake, tremble”
Explanation
When you quake, you tremble and shiver. A scary sound in a dark basement might make you quake. To quake is to move rapidly back and forth, so quickly that the movement is almost a vibration. If you've ever felt the floor quake during an actual earthquake, you know the fluttery, shaking kind of movement. A person can quake with fear, and a building can quake during a wind storm. You can also use the word quake as a noun, to describe the feeling itself. The Old English root is cwacian, or "tremble or clatter of teeth."
Vocabulary lists containing quake
Common Five-letter Words for Wordle, List 5
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Scrabble: Words that Begin with Q
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Lesson 24
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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:
The quake caused widespread damage in the sweltering southwestern region, flattening homes, damaging bridges, triggering fires and leaving many without electricity and water.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
More than 100 aftershocks have been recorded since the initial quake, and many have taken to sleeping in their cars for fear of further tremors.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 6.8, lower than Japan's reading of 7.1.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
A cat cafe inside the mall said on Wednesday that its 25 cats, which had been left behind during the chaos of the quake, had all since been safely rescued.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
In 1995, as you will remember, the city of Kobe, three hundred miles to the west, was struck by a magnitude 7.2 quake, which killed 6,394 people.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
The twin quakes that shattered Venezuela in June killed 6,125 people, National Assembly Chief Jorge Rodriguez said Monday.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
It immediately brought back memories of a pair of quakes a decade ago in Kumamoto that killed more than 200 people and caused heavy damage at the mall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
That is why some of the biggest challenges in preparing for quakes involve the secondary effects after the initial shaking is over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
A total of 278 people were killed in 2016 by powerful quakes in Kumamoto and neighbouring Oita prefectures, according to Japan's public broadcaster NHK.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
New England has had two quakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater in the last two hundred years.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
He was so influential that two presidents, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, quaked under fear of incurring McCarthy's wrath.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2024
But on board, the 12-year-old girl quaked with fear.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
Neither Pinterest nor the patriarchy quaked in its boots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2024
As the speakers quaked and made face-to-face conversations inaudible, it felt as though the energy of a rising, surprising team thumped along with the bass.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 31, 2022
The metal farm instruments hanging on the walls quaked.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
But while Wembanyama is having the time of his life, every other team in the league is quaking in its boots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
Troubles, however, are also quaking on the offensive side of America’s nuclear-weapons enterprise—specifically, the program to build a new land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, the Sentinel, to replace the 400 current ICBMs, known as Minuteman IIIs.
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2025
"Sure enough, the quaking started to happen," Mr Manaugh said.
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2025
He sounded quite irritated that they were asking him about such trivialities when he is the one who has world leaders quaking in their boots as he re-makes the whole world in his image.
From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2025
But Julius had seen her at other times, out in her carriage, Boots at her side, waving and smiling to the admiring crowd, and knew that this apparent haughtiness hid a quaking heart.
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
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.
