quivering

[kwiv-uh-ring]

adjective

1. trembling or shaking with a slight, rapid motion, or seeming to tremble or shake.

   The sun climbed higher and movement ceased: over the whole summit, figures lay still in the quivering heat.

   Forty hertz is really fast, like the quivering light from a faulty fluorescent bulb.

noun

1. an act or instance of shaking with a slight but rapid motion.

   The quivering in the heart upsets the normal rhythm between the atria and the lower parts of the heart, the ventricles.

Other Word Forms

• quiveringly adverb
• unquivering adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of quivering¹

First recorded in 1530–40; quiver ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective; quiver ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun

Example Sentences

“Think how marvelous it would be to live among so many fascinating ferns, growing in their native habitats,” she thought with quivering lip.

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Elsewhere, a cabinet never stops quivering as we wait for its door to swing open.

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Mr. Schumer, even before his quivering on Mr. Mamdani, has in recent years hardly proven himself to be the Jewish bulwark he claims to be.

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I don’t mind notes, but I think I realized how thirsty I was for a bit of quivering lip.”

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He looks at the sheep he’s about to ride with quivering lips.

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Related Words

• shaking 
• shivering www.thesaurus.com
• trembling www.thesaurus.com