as in shaking
marked by or given to small uncontrollable bodily movements
trembling from the cold
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
at the first sign of the room's trembling, I ducked for cover, for I was certain that it was the start of the big quake
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of trembling
Rodney Muhumuza,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Apr. 2026
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.
—
Ben Lerner,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Mar. 2026
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
Lost in the trembling of my own body, trembling like Bunny’s body.
—
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
Olsen plays Joan’s indecision with winsome fluster, at first breathy and trembling but eventually finding her resolve.
—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Sep. 2025
Still, the cluster exhibited a subtle trembling motion while it was held in place.
—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Aug. 2025
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.
—
Rodney Muhumuza,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Apr. 2026
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.
—
Ben Lerner,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Mar. 2026
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
Lost in the trembling of my own body, trembling like Bunny’s body.
—
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
Olsen plays Joan’s indecision with winsome fluster, at first breathy and trembling but eventually finding her resolve.
—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Sep. 2025
Still, the cluster exhibited a subtle trembling motion while it was held in place.
—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for trembling
Adjective
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That week’s host, Emily Blunt, did the trembly voice-over.
Noun
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Earthquakes' sudden, rapid shaking can cause fires, tsunamis, landslides or avalanches.
Verb
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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.
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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.
Adjective
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But all that construction could be off to a shaky start, suggests Nerma Caluk, an engineer and lunar specialist for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, an architecture and structural engineering firm in San Francisco, California.
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After a shaky first quarter that gave way to a nine-point advantage for the Wings, the Valkyries woke up thanks to a huge spark off the bench from Kaitlyn Chen.
Noun
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Casting near banks and using a twitching technique can increase success during the hatch.
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During this phase, octopuses display visible twitching along with rapid changes in skin color and texture, per NPR.
Adjective
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Standing 10 yards in front of us on a corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue was a shivering elderly woman who looked lost.
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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
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Researchers have shown that existing telecommunication cables can record bridge vibration signatures.
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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.
Noun
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The director again shows his action smarts by creating a brief lull — albeit while leaning hard on one of the more sudsy passages of composer Fernando Velázquez’s generic score — before the next shuddering impact sends the number of casualties skyrocketing.
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Fellow clubgoers splashed cold water on his face in an attempt to stop the shuddering.
Cite this Entry
“Trembling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trembling. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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