trembling
Definition
Adjective:
- Shaking involuntarily with slight, rapid movements: Describes something or someone that is vibrating slightly and irregularly, typically due to fear, cold, weakness, or strong emotion.
Noun:
- The action or fact of shaking involuntarily: A shaky, quivering motion.
Usage and Examples
Adjective:
- She spoke with a trembling voice. (Her voice shook slightly due to nervousness.)
- He held out a trembling hand. (His hand was unsteady and shaking.)
Noun:
- The trembling in his knees was visible. (The shaky motion of his knees could be seen.)
- A slight trembling of the leaves could be felt. (A gentle quivering movement of the leaves was perceptible.)
Advanced Usage
- "a trembling wreck": An idiom describing a person who is so frightened or nervous that they are shaking and seem unable to function normally.
- After the accident, he was a trembling wreck.
Variants and Related Words
- Tremble (verb): To shake involuntarily.
- His voice began to tremble.
- Tremor (noun): A slight, involuntary shaking movement.
- An earth tremor.
- Tremulous (adjective): Shaking or quivering slightly.
- She answered in a tremulous voice.
Synonyms
- Shaking
- Quivering
- Shivering
- Quaking
- Shaky
Notes on Different Meanings
The core meaning of trembling consistently relates to a rapid, slight, and often uncontrollable shaking. As an adjective, it describes the state of something that shakes. As a noun, it names the act or instance of such shaking. The cause is typically internal, such as an emotion or physical condition, rather than an external force.
Adjective
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vibrating slightly and irregularly; as e.g. with fear or cold or like the leaves of an aspen in a breeze
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a quaking bog
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the quaking child asked for more
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quivering leaves of a poplar tree
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with shaking knees
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seemed shaky on her feet
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sparkling light from the shivering crystals of the chandelier
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trembling hands
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Noun
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a shaky motion
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the shaking of his fingers as he lit his pipe
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