quivering

American  

[kwiv-uh-ring] / ˈkwɪv ə rɪŋ /

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.

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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

Etymology

Origin of quivering

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

Explanation

Quivering means trembling. If your dog begins quivering with fear whenever someone knocks on your door, he's not much use as a guard dog. When something's shaking gently, like a candle flame shivering slightly in a breeze, you can describe it as quivering. On a windy day, you might see the leaves of trees or the ruffled feathers of a bird quivering in the wind. There are a few theories about the origin of the word quivering including the possibility that the word quiver was developed onomatopoeically — or creating a word that sounds like its meaning, like a vibrating kind of shiver.

Example Sentences

Through evocative descriptions—the skylark’s trill “hovering in the quivering air,” or the sun rising over a “silvery, dew-thick cow meadow”—Ms. Haynes invites us to take part in the daily rhythms of our natural world.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

Be fretful, be anxious, be a quivering wreck about what might be in America, but keep perspective, too.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

And she watched me, my chin was quivering and and she was like, “All right, I guess we’re going to Spokane.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026

“Homeland” co-developer Howard Gordon serves as this show’s showrunner, and he’s amply familiar with Danes’ preternatural ability to break out an anxiety-squinched expression and quivering lower lip precisely when the action calls for them.

From Salon • Nov. 19, 2025

I shrugged like it was no big deal but my quivering chin must’ve given me away.

From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor

Related Words

• shaking
• shivering
• trembling