quivering

[ kwiv-uh-ring ]
See synonyms for quivering on Thesaurus.com
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.

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.

Origin of quivering

1
First recorded in 1530–40; quiver1 + -ing2 for the adjective; quiver1 + -ing1 for the noun

Other words from quivering

  • quiv·er·ing·ly, adverb
  • un·quiv·er·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use quivering in a sentence

  • She looked into the pathetic quiveringly childish, old face bent over her.

    The Pioneers | Katharine Susannah Prichard
  • His voice sounded timidly and quiveringly at first; but as the conversation proceeded, it became steady and firm.

    Byron | Richard Edgcumbe
  • Her beauty—that of a shy, wild, quiveringly sensitive thing—seemed nothing to her.

    Sons and Lovers | David Herbert Lawrence
  • They are keen, intent, strained, quiveringly eager all with a tight clutch on a deadly rifle.

  • It is forever gliding, gleaming, melting; crystallizing for an instant in some savory phrase, then moving quiveringly onward.

    Musical Portraits | Paul Rosenfeld