quavering 1 of 2

Definition of quaveringnext

quavering

2 of 2

verb

present participle of quaver
as in trilling
to sing with the alternation of two musical tones know-it-alls snickered as the opera singer quavered on the high note

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of quavering
Verb
The combination of quavering flutes and solemn, unfamiliar corridors is disquieting. Hazlitt, 10 Dec. 2025 Funke, her voice quavering throughout, recounted the events of the previous night. Sasha Pezenik, ABC News, 5 Sep. 2025 Her voice quavering with emotion, Pawol talked about getting the news during a Wednesday conference call with director of umpire development Rich Rieker and vice president of umpire operations Matt McKendry. Ronald Blum, Chicago Tribune, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quavering
Adjective
  • Emily Henry is so well known for her best-selling emotionally resonant love stories that the author has been called the queen of rom-coms.
    Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 13 Jan. 2026
  • The film is an absolute riot, a no-bones-about-it horror flick heightened by powerful music, confident performances, and rich, resonant themes regarding cultural assimilation.
    Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Sounds of loud trilling shouts after silent hunts, and singing.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
  • The blast furnace of volcanoes has fallen silent, replaced by birdsong trilling from the branches and echoing through a garden of exotic stone.
    Roger Naylor, AZCentral.com, 29 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • The country twang of her Nashville origins has been replaced with sonorous synths, and in the case of Showgirl, a throwback to the retro electric guitar sound of her bestselling 2014 album 1989.
    Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Oct. 2025
  • The work contains sonorous bouts of sorrow, but rage is its primary register.
    Alex Ross, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • The song may be six minutes long, but the circuitous lope of his acoustic-guitar strum and low throb of his warbling feel eternal, like the type of tune Sisyphus might have hummed to keep himself company.
    Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
Adjective
  • These remixes, with actual tension between their textures and keen melodic interplay, live up to the best of Two Shell’s work better than the duo themselves these days.
    Andrew Ryce, Pitchfork, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Although Jerry Garcia cast the longest shadow across the legend of the Dead with his dark, complexly melodic songs and his hazy, frayed vocals, Weir’s shadow was more translucent, melodically lighter and rhythmically astute.
    A.D. Amorosi, Variety, 11 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • Guitar in hand, Sheeran traded dulcet lines with Smith while strumming along on his acoustic guitar and shuffling around the stage.
    Joe Lynch, Billboard, 11 Dec. 2025
  • Pálmason’s follow-up to his austere 19th-century drama Godland is a constantly surprising film with an immaculate sense of framing and pacing—and an evocative, dulcet piano score by Harry Hunt—dotted with idiosyncratic flights of fancy that never detract from the central emotional authenticity.
    Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Developing his style alongside Garcia’s flocking melodicism and Lesh’s never-the-same-way-once bass counterpoints, Weir soon had to also contend for rhythmic space between the band’s two drummers, as well.
    Jesse Jarnow, Pitchfork, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Though Robby Hoddinott was responsible for the track’s prickly guitar lead, the backing of bassist-pal Dave Torbert from New Riders of the Purple Sage elevates Weir and the song’s rhythmic bottom to something uplifting and downright prancy.
    A.D. Amorosi, Variety, 11 Jan. 2026
Adjective
  • North Texas is both everything that makes college football so irresistibly fun and appealing, while also serving as the worst example of the current model.
    Mac Engel Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Arkansas Online, 11 Jan. 2026
  • The brand is a regular on Oprah's Favorite Things lists, which only makes this deal more appealing.
    Jamie Allison Sanders, PEOPLE, 11 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Quavering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quavering. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.

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