Synonyms

vibrate

American

[vahy-brayt] / ˈvaɪ breɪt /

verb (used without object)

to move rhythmically and steadily to and fro, as a pendulum; oscillate.
to move to and fro or up and down quickly and repeatedly; quiver; tremble.
(of sounds) to produce or have a quivering or vibratory effect; resound.

Synonyms:

echo
to thrill, as in emotional response.
to move between alternatives or extremes; fluctuate; vacillate.

verb (used with object)

to cause to move rhythmically and steadily to and fro, swing, or oscillate.
to cause to move to and fro or up and down quickly and repeatedly; cause to quiver or tremble.
to give forth or emit by, or as by, vibration.
to measure or indicate by vibration or oscillation.

a pendulum vibrating seconds.

vibrate British

/ vaɪˈbreɪt /

verb

to move or cause to move back and forth rapidly; shake, quiver, or throb
(intr) to oscillate
to send out (a sound) by vibration; resonate or cause to resonate
(intr) to waver
physics to undergo or cause to undergo an oscillatory or periodic process, as of an alternating current; oscillate
rare (intr) to respond emotionally; thrill

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Synonym Usage

See shake.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of vibrate

First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin vibrātus (past participle of vibrāre “to move to and fro”); see -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."

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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.

See Examples For:

vibrate vibrates vibrated vibrating

Lisa-Kaindé: It’s about living in a way that is aligned with what makes you vibrate, what makes you feel alive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

“Nothing beats feeling the ground vibrate, seeing the charting of the wheels and hearing the whistle,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

"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 ● Feb. 10, 2026

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

From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026

When Julia Bishop said I was an “okay guy,”my atoms began to swirl and vibrate.

From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith

Some fans do just that, but the packed stadium vibrates harder with cheers as thousands of phones stay in the air.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

"What happens in any part of this ocean vibrates through all of us," she told AFP.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

Even if you never bore witness to that outrageous performance, its elemental alchemy vibrates in the band’s most popular songs, each of them calling to us with purpose.

From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026

Inside, standing 43 inches tall, a silver speaker from Takahiro Miyashita’s brand TheSoloist vibrates high fidelity through the showroom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026

The tiny microphone inside my cheek vibrates a little.

From "Legend" by Marie Lu

Inside the machine, which looked like a large blender with a metal doughnut inside, blue and orange lights vibrated within glass tubes, while feathery electricity danced out the top.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

There was a low rumble that vibrated for a second or two, then faded away.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2026

Ultimately, Pellegrino and his team completed the deployment through a motion of DOLCE's actuators that vibrated the whole structure and worked the jam free.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2024

The researchers measured the opening between vocal folds—known as the glottal gap—as they opened, closed, and vibrated while the women spoke at different pitches.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 17, 2023

The deep voice thrillingly vibrated; the gesticulating hand implied all space and the onrush of the irresistible machine.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Every five or 15 minutes, another pager returned to the host stand, blinking and vibrating in the hands of a customer whose table was finally ready.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

"We have seen that vibrating objects can exhibit quantum behavior, which is the prerequisite for many of the operations needed by quantum computing and sensing."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

José Rivera’s “Marisol” came out around the same time as Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” and both plays, vibrating with millennial anxieties, carry the earthly battle for human survival up to the heavens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

"It then carried on going for a couple of minutes but there was a horrible vibrating sound."

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Bat felt like he was vibrating on the inside, he was so happy.

From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023