temblor

American  

[tem-bler, -blawr, tem-blawr] / ˈtɛm blər, -blɔr, tɛmˈblɔr /

noun

• temblors,
  plural
• temblores
  plural

1. a tremor; earthquake.

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temblor British  

/ ˈtɛmblə, -blɔː /

noun

1. an earthquake or earth tremor

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Usage

What does temblor mean? Temblor is another word for an earthquake or a tremor. A temblor can also be called a trembler or a tremblor. These terms are all less commonly used than earthquake and tremor. The plural of temblor is temblors, but temblores is also sometimes used as a plural (due to the fact that temblor came from Spanish and this is how it is pluralized in Spanish). Example: The temblor that hit the area last month shook the whole city for more than a minute.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• temblores
  plural
• temblors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of temblor

An Americanism first recorded in 1895–1900; from Spanish: literally, “a quaking,” equivalent to tembl(ar) “to quake” (perhaps ultimately from Latin timēre “to fear” and Late Latin tremulāre “to quake”) + -or noun suffix; see tremble, -or ¹

Compare meaning

How does temblor compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• temblor vs. earthquake

Explanation

A temblor is another name for an earthquake. Feeling a temblor shake the ground under your feet can be terrifying, even when it's a fairly small one. The word temblor has been commonly used in American Spanish since the 19th century. It comes from a Spanish word meaning "a trembling." So if you ever have the experience of feeling the ground tremble beneath you or watching the dishes on your kitchen shelf trembling as your whole house shakes, you can describe it as an earthquake or a temblor.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

temblor temblors

The temblor jolted the area at 12:13 a.m., with an epicenter about three miles south-southeast of Compton.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

"He's always thinking about the house. He keeps saying I should take him to see it," said the 27-year-old whose workplace, a carwash, also fell to pieces in the temblor.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

The temblor sparked several fires, collapsed buildings, damaged bridges -- including part of one pedestrian walkway that collapsed into a river -- and capsized a freight train.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

But just 39 seconds after it started, an even more powerful magnitude 7.5 temblor struck, making a catastrophic disaster even worse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

It was merely a temblor, such as anyone would expect to feel occasionally with six smoking volcanic cones in view.

From Operation: Outer Space by Murray Leinster

In Playa Grande, the temblors spared few buildings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

The partying turned to gloom after the temblors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

The temblors have coincided with viral panic stemming from the 2021 reprint of a comic book that many are now interpreting as a clairvoyant prediction of a major earthquake.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025

Since the quakes, the anger of many survivors has centered on the lax construction practices that allowed so many defective buildings to rise across a region with a history of powerful temblors.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2024

There were still temblors, but the sharper shocks no longer came.

From Operation: Outer Space by Murray Leinster

Related Words

• earthquake
• upheaval