palpitates

verb

present tense third-person singular of palpitate
as in throbs
to expand and contract in a rhythmic manner the man's heart began to palpitate, and he feared another attack was coming on

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for palpitates
  1. throbs
  2. beats
  3. vibrates
  4. pulses
Verb
  • The first is pique, a sharp, vinegary hot sauce that throbs with the heat of Thai chiles.
    — Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026
  • The depression is a gritty-slick coating that constantly throbs against my thoughts and my insides.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 July 2026
Definition of throbs
Verb
  • There is an art to stylizing a position of interrogation in excess of its biomechanics, an art to how lockstep beats a cadence while a unit swells into an enveloping arc.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • RingEx beats Unite hands down here, with hundreds of integration options.
    — John Brandon, PC Magazine, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of beats
Verb
  • In Lepecki’s account, the gesture again demonstrated that stillness in dance always vibrates with subtle motion.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Sound in modern brass instruments, such as French horns, trombones, and trumpets, is produced when the player vibrates their lips against a metal mouthpiece, moving air through the instrument’s tubing.
    — Kara Rogers, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of vibrates
Verb
  • The top also features a power button, a Wi-Fi indicator, and an LED indicator that pulses green during charging, shines solid green when the battery is fully charged, or blue when the battery is running low.
    — John R. Delaney, PC Magazine, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Wearables use temperature sensors, accelerometers, light sensors and photoplethysmography (PPG), which pulses light through the skin to measure blood flow, heart rate and approximate blood oxygen.
    — Hanna Wickes, Sacbee.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of pulses
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

palpitated
palpitates
palpitating
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Palpitates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/palpitates. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All