waver

1
[ wey-ver ]
See synonyms for waver on Thesaurus.com
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.

  1. become unsteady; begin to fail or give way: When she heard the news her courage wavered.

  2. to shake or tremble, as the hands or voice: Her voice wavered.

  3. to feel or show doubt, indecision, etc.; vacillate: He wavered in his determination.

  4. (of things) to fluctuate or vary: Prices wavered.

  5. to totter or reel: The earth quaked and the tower wavered.

noun
  1. an act of wavering, fluttering, or vacillating.

Origin of waver

1
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English waveren, waferen “to totter, swing”; cognate with Middle High German wabern “to waver,” dialectal German wabern “to move about,” Old Norse vafra “to hover about, roam”; see wave, -er6

synonym study For waver

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.

Other words for waver

Other words from waver

  • wa·ver·er, noun
  • un·wa·vered, adjective

Other definitions for waver (2 of 2)

waver2
[ wey-ver ]

noun
  1. a person who waves or causes something to wave: Election time brings out the wavers of flags and haranguers of mobs.

  2. a person who specializes in waving hair.

  1. something, as a curling iron, used for waving hair.

Origin of waver

2
First recorded in 1550–60; wave + -er1

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

How to use waver in a sentence

  • We say too readily that a woman who wavers and hesitates is treating a man badly.

    Paul Patoff | F. Marion Crawford
  • We believe it all happened—we know that it must have happened, for our faith in the Sieur de Conte never for an instant wavers.

  • It wavers gently to and fro with the impulse of the wind, as if to refresh with its breath the light undulating foliage.

    The Desert World | Arthur Mangin
  • It is a night when the furies ride shrieking, and when the border between the man and the madman wavers.

    The Code of the Mountains | Charles Neville Buck

British Dictionary definitions for waver

waver

/ (ˈweɪvə) /


verb(intr)
  1. to be irresolute; hesitate between two possibilities

  2. to become unsteady

  1. to fluctuate or vary

  2. to move back and forth or one way and another

  3. (of light) to flicker or flash

noun
  1. the act or an instance of wavering

Origin of waver

1
C14: from Old Norse vafra to flicker; related to German wabern to move about

Derived forms of waver

  • waverer, noun
  • wavering, adjective
  • waveringly, adverb

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