vibrate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to move rhythmically and steadily to and fro, as a pendulum; oscillate.
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to move to and fro or up and down quickly and repeatedly; quiver; tremble.
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(of sounds) to produce or have a quivering or vibratory effect; resound.
- Synonyms:
- echo
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to thrill, as in emotional response.
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to move between alternatives or extremes; fluctuate; vacillate.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to move rhythmically and steadily to and fro, swing, or oscillate.
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to cause to move to and fro or up and down quickly and repeatedly; cause to quiver or tremble.
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to give forth or emit by, or as by, vibration.
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to measure or indicate by vibration or oscillation.
a pendulum vibrating seconds.
verb
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to move or cause to move back and forth rapidly; shake, quiver, or throb
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(intr) to oscillate
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to send out (a sound) by vibration; resonate or cause to resonate
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(intr) to waver
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physics to undergo or cause to undergo an oscillatory or periodic process, as of an alternating current; oscillate
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rare (intr) to respond emotionally; thrill
Related Words
See shake.
Other Word Forms
- nonvibrating adjective
- revibrate verb
- unvibrated adjective
- unvibrating adjective
- vibratile adjective
- vibrating adjective
- vibratingly adverb
- vibratory adjective
Etymology
Origin of vibrate
First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin vibrātus (past participle of vibrāre “to move to and fro”); -ate 1
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.
In 1877, Berliner, then working with Edison, created the first “telephone voice transmitter,” a device that used a vibrating metal diaphragm to convert sound waves into electrical signals for transmission over telephone lines.
Each character seems to understand the others dimly, as through a language barrier; each vibrates at their own frequency.
From Los Angeles Times
Only the hum of the blasting air conditioner vibrated in the air.
From Literature
"Cathy and Heathcliff's passions vibrate through their dress, their surroundings, and everything else within reach, and you leave the cinema quivering on their own private frequency."
From BBC
In PAT, tissue molecules that absorb light vibrate after being hit by short laser pulses, producing acoustic signals that can be measured and converted into detailed images.
From Science Daily
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.
