as in trembling
marked by or given to small uncontrollable bodily movements
our quivering dog tried to hide under the bed during the thunderstorm
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in twitching
a series of slight movements by a body back and forth or from side to side
the kids were fascinated by the quivering of the jellyfish and kept poking it to see it wiggle
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in shaking
to make a series of small irregular or violent movements
aspen leaves quivering in the breeze
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of quivering
Literary Hub,
3 Mar. 2026
The old dog slowed to a stop, nose full of bird stink, feathery tail quivering.
—
Joel M. Vance,
Outdoor Life,
29 Oct. 2025
Brock Keeling,
Oc Register,
26 May 2026
Johnston plays poor Bear as a quivering mess wracked with guilt that this monster — who used to be his friend — is the result of his own terrible decision-making.
—
Katie Walsh,
Twin Cities,
23 May 2026
Maggie could see how the soles of her feet strained against the stirrups, her pale fists grinding into the platform, knuckles first and elbows quivering.
—
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
In the 1970s, James Lovelock proposed that the biosphere was not just green scruff quivering on Earth's surface.
—
Big Think,
23 Apr. 2026
The mesmerizing evolution reaches its peak when a quivering guitar solo jettisons into view.
—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
26 Feb. 2026
Few things shake the confidence of a person like crawling to the top bunk of a quivering bed frame, your feet wrapping uncomfortably along the frail metal rungs of the ladder.
—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
27 Jan. 2026
Danes is a four-time Golden Globe winner who brought her quivering lower lip to bear on the role of an author who thinks her next-door neighbor killed his wife.
—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
9 Jan. 2026
For Lusti, the highwire act has less to do with skiing over exposure that would turn the rest of us into quivering piles of jello and more to do with learning when her time outdoors stops being a refuge and starts being a hiding place.
—
Outside Online,
10 Dec. 2025
Noun
The horror has come now like a storm— what if this night prefigured the night after death— what if all thereafter was an eternal quivering on the edge of an abyss, with everything base and vicious in oneself urging one forward and the baseness and viciousness of the world just ahead.
—
Literary Hub,
3 Mar. 2026
The old dog slowed to a stop, nose full of bird stink, feathery tail quivering.
—
Joel M. Vance,
Outdoor Life,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
Located on the street level of the Harbor Boulevard complex, the new shop gives dessert-loving denizens another place to pick up the quivering treat.
—
Brock Keeling,
Oc Register,
26 May 2026
Johnston plays poor Bear as a quivering mess wracked with guilt that this monster — who used to be his friend — is the result of his own terrible decision-making.
—
Katie Walsh,
Twin Cities,
23 May 2026
Maggie could see how the soles of her feet strained against the stirrups, her pale fists grinding into the platform, knuckles first and elbows quivering.
—
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
In the 1970s, James Lovelock proposed that the biosphere was not just green scruff quivering on Earth's surface.
—
Big Think,
23 Apr. 2026
The mesmerizing evolution reaches its peak when a quivering guitar solo jettisons into view.
—
Nina Corcoran,
Pitchfork,
26 Feb. 2026
Few things shake the confidence of a person like crawling to the top bunk of a quivering bed frame, your feet wrapping uncomfortably along the frail metal rungs of the ladder.
—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
27 Jan. 2026
Danes is a four-time Golden Globe winner who brought her quivering lower lip to bear on the role of an author who thinks her next-door neighbor killed his wife.
—
Nate Jones,
Vulture,
9 Jan. 2026
For Lusti, the highwire act has less to do with skiing over exposure that would turn the rest of us into quivering piles of jello and more to do with learning when her time outdoors stops being a refuge and starts being a hiding place.
—
Outside Online,
10 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quivering
Adjective
-
That week’s host, Emily Blunt, did the trembly voice-over.
Noun
-
All the trembling, as Kimbangu touched the sick, alarmed European settlers and reassured the plantation workers who trekked to Nkamba in search of healing.
-
At first this change of scale vivifies the butterfly—its brief stillness, the angle of its wings, its trembling—while freezing everything else, including the novel’s action.
Verb
-
Right now, that faith is shaking as a wave of cruelty sweeps through our communities.
-
With more shaking or churning, these grains grow and separate from the watery, naturally low-fat buttermilk.
Adjective
-
Standing 10 yards in front of us on a corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue was a shivering elderly woman who looked lost.
-
What she’s produced is a searching, pointedly disorienting text, studded with passages of extreme beauty and generous humor, that wears whimsy like a shivering veil over consuming discomfort, even terror.
Noun
-
Casting near banks and using a twitching technique can increase success during the hatch.
-
During this phase, octopuses display visible twitching along with rapid changes in skin color and texture, per NPR.
Verb
-
A lot of people are upset by the notion of bringing cage fights to the White House, shuddering at the bad taste of it all.
-
Design practices Not knowing ahead of time what lunar explorers may face is an unsure, shuddering proposition.
Adjective
-
The shaky outing continued Sasaki’s post-breakthrough slide, but the setback barely dents the Dodgers’ commanding division cushion, with San Diego still eight games back in the standings.
-
Andy’s spark is just what Runway needs, though, since the glossy fashion magazine is on shaky financial grounds in the age of digital media.
Noun
-
Researchers have shown that existing telecommunication cables can record bridge vibration signatures.
-
When a Formula 1 driver wears a Richard Mille in the cockpit, that watch is subjected to sustained G-loads, vibration and thermal extremes rarely encountered in traditional horology.
Cite this Entry
“Quivering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quivering. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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