quake
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
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an earthquake.
-
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.
Appeared in the June 30, 2026, print edition as 'Venezuelans Blast Quake Response'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 30, 2026
Rumble added that it would change its name to RUM Group and operate through two units—the Rumble video platform and Quake AI, a cloud and AI-infrastructure business.
From Barron's • Jun. 18, 2026
That classic will forever be known in Seattle as the Beast Quake game, when Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch broke nine tackles to score a 67-yard touchdown.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025
You won’t see photos of Richard Sherman’s tip, or Marshawn Lynch’s Beast Quake run, or any of the indelible moments that came to define this franchise.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 20, 2024
I bought him lunch, then he headed home, went back online, and began playing Quake II with Eric to wind down.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
