vibrate

American  

[vahy-breyt] / ˈvaɪ breɪt /

verb (used without object)

vibrated, vibrating

1. to move rhythmically and steadily to and fro, as a pendulum; oscillate.

2. to move to and fro or up and down quickly and repeatedly; quiver; tremble.

3. (of sounds) to produce or have a quivering or vibratory effect; resound.

   Synonyms:

   echo

4. to thrill, as in emotional response.

5. to move between alternatives or extremes; fluctuate; vacillate.

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verb (used with object)

vibrated, vibrating

1. to cause to move rhythmically and steadily to and fro, swing, or oscillate.

2. to cause to move to and fro or up and down quickly and repeatedly; cause to quiver or tremble.

3. to give forth or emit by, or as by, vibration.

4. to measure or indicate by vibration or oscillation.

   a pendulum vibrating seconds.

vibrate British  

/ vaɪˈbreɪt, ˈvaɪbrəˌtaɪl /

verb

1. to move or cause to move back and forth rapidly; shake, quiver, or throb

2. (intr) to oscillate

3. to send out (a sound) by vibration; resonate or cause to resonate

4. (intr) to waver

5. physics to undergo or cause to undergo an oscillatory or periodic process, as of an alternating current; oscillate

6. rare (intr) to respond emotionally; thrill

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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

Explanation

When you feel something vibrate, it trembles and shakes. A mild earthquake, for example, might make your chandelier vibrate. A hummingbird's wings vibrate, and so does an electric toothbrush. That extremely rapid back-and-forth movement is what happens when something vibrates. Something can also vibrate in a more musical, resonant way — the sound of an organ might vibrate through a church, for example. The root is the Latin word vibratus, which means "move quickly to and fro or shake."

Example Sentences

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 • Feb. 6, 2026

Rare earths are likewise found in every smartphone, enhancing screen performance and enabling the phone to vibrate.

From Barron's • Feb. 4, 2026

Mr Penny said anecdotally around 50 per cent of the students will have their phones switched off during the day, as per school policy, but the rest will be on vibrate.

From BBC • Oct. 15, 2025

Mescal, especially, makes sadness vibrate as the plot takes us to Italy then London and back, and time apart comes to mean something entirely different than a pause between sung verses.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2025

The glasses vibrate with little screams when I touch them.

From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Related Words

• flutter
• pulsate
• resonate
• resound
• reverberate
• shiver
• throb
• tremble
• undulate