trepidatious

adjective trep·i·da·tious \ ˌtre-pə-ˈdā-shəs \

variants: or less commonly trepidacious

|Updated on: 29 Jun 2018

Definition of trepidatious

: feeling trepidation : apprehensive

Within a couple of minutes of coming "on stage" she had an immediate rapport with the studio audience, discussing with candor what sort of questions they might have, and had the whole session in hand and us trepidatious panelists at ease.
—Malcolm S. Forbes

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trepidatiously

adverb

Recent Examples of trepidatious from the Web

News of Zucker’s contract renewal will therefore presumably come as a sigh of relief for an organization whose employees are already somewhat trepidatious about what, if anything, might change once AT&T starts cutting their paychecks.

— joe pompeo, The Hive, "Exclusive: Jeff Zucker Renews at CNN Through the 2020 Election," 13 June 2018
Gabrielle Reece snapped on a swim cap and held out a mask to an appropriately trepidatious visitor.

— dana goodyear, The New Yorker, "A Radical Underwater Workout," 5 Sep. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'trepidatious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.