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wavering

 - 3 dictionary results

wa⋅ver

1  [wey-ver]
Use wavering in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to sway to and fro; flutter: Foliage wavers in the breeze.
2. to flicker or quiver, as light: A distant beam wavered and then disappeared.
3. become unsteady; begin to fail or give way: When she heard the news her courage wavered.
4. to shake or tremble, as the hands or voice: Her voice wavered.
5. to feel or show doubt, indecision, etc.; vacillate: He wavered in his determination.
6. (of things) to fluctuate or vary: Prices wavered.
7. to totter or reel: The earth quaked and the tower wavered.
–noun
8. an act of wavering, fluttering, or vacillating.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME (see wave, -er 6 ); c. dial. G wabern to move about, ON vafra to toddle

Related forms:
wa⋅ver⋅er, noun
wa⋅ver⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
4. quiver. 5. Waver, fluctuate, vacillate refer to an alternation or hesitation between one direction and another. Waver means to hesitate between choices: to waver between two courses of action. Fluctuate suggests irregular change from one side to the other or up and down: The prices of stocks fluctuate when there is bad news followed by good. Vacillate is to make up one's mind and change it again suddenly; to be undecided as to what to do: We must not vacillate but must set a day.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To wavering
wa·ver   (wā'vər)   
intr.v.   wa·vered, wa·ver·ing, wa·vers

  1. To move unsteadily back and forth. See Synonyms at swing.

    1. To exhibit irresolution or indecision; vacillate: wavered over buying a house. See Synonyms at hesitate.

    2. To become unsteady or unsure; falter: His resolve began to waver.

  3. To tremble or quaver in sound, as of the voice or a musical note.

  4. To flicker or glimmer, as light.

n.  The act of wavering.

[Middle English waveren; see webh- in Indo-European roots.]
wa'ver·er n., wa'ver·ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

waver  (v.)
c.1280, weyveren, "to show indecision," probably related to O.E. wæfre "restless, wavering," from P.Gmc. *wæbraz (cf. M.H.G. wabern "to waver," O.N. vafra "to hover about"), a frequentative form from the root of wave (v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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