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
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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
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
A-fib is an irregular, quivering or often rapid heart rhythm resulting from the heart’s upper chambers, the atria, beating out of sync with the lower chambers, the ventricles.
—Kristen Rogers, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 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
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
A-fib is an irregular, quivering or often rapid heart rhythm resulting from the heart’s upper chambers, the atria, beating out of sync with the lower chambers, the ventricles.
—Kristen Rogers, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quivering
Noun
-
Its strength ranges from mild, causing little more discomfort than a slight trembling, to severe, in which passengers or flight crew can be thrown around the cabin and risk injury if not wearing seatbelts.—
Cat Rainsford,
Popular Science,
15 Jan. 2026
-
There’s Walter’s serene cello and Marjorie’s pensive, slightly coy violin, sometimes playful or petulant or, still, a little vain and secretive — other times thin and trembling, lost in the haze of dementia.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
9 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
There is the interceptors overhead, there's the loud booms, hotel windows shaking and alerts going off on your phone at all hours of the day and night.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
15 Mar. 2026
-
The energy was on 10 from the moment Lil Fame and Billy Danze stepped onstage, bass shaking the walls like sheet metal in high wind.—
Dash Lewis,
Pitchfork,
14 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
That week’s host, Emily Blunt, did the trembly voice-over.—
Michael Schulman,
The New Yorker,
21 Dec. 2020
Noun
-
The disease, which gets worse over time, starts with muscle twitching, slurred speech, or weakness in an arm or leg.—
Jason Pham,
StyleCaster,
20 Feb. 2026
-
After 10 weeks without food, Muraisi is experiencing involuntary muscular twitching and severe chest pains, according to Prisoners for Palestine, with her doctors warning of possible cardiovascular collapse.—
Kara Fox,
CNN Money,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
That all came to a shuddering halt after Khashoggi’s death.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
17 Feb. 2026
-
Sat shuddering in my seat as the lights drew down.—
Sally Jenkins,
The Atlantic,
15 Feb. 2026
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.—
Richard Greenberg,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
-
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.—
Paul McAdory,
Vulture,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Cosmofonia explores the inaudible sounds and voices, including infrasonic vibrations, seismic noises, codes between different species, and acoustic traces of ecological collapse and survival.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Mar. 2026
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Neighbors spoke to the city council on Wednesday night about how the noise, vibration, and energy usage are affecting their families.—
Marissa Sulek,
CBS News,
19 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The clip on TikTok shows the seat jerking abruptly, apparently from forceful pushes by the person seated behind her.—
Kelly McGreal,
FOXNews.com,
13 Mar. 2026
-
But then her limbs started jerking.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
12 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Quivering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quivering. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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