Word.ws English Dictionary

quavering

quavering is the present participle and gerund of quaver.

Meaning of quaver

Verb

quaver (third-person singular simple present quavers, present participle quavering, simple past and past participle quavered)

  1. To shake in a trembling manner.
  2. (intransitive) To use the voice in a trembling manner, as in speaking or singing.
    • "Aw come on, guys!" The woman, clearly overwhelmed by the force of the two friends' personalities, quavered on the point of tears.1982 December 11, Andrea Loewenstein, “The Joys of Community or Holiday-itis Strikes Back”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 21, page 12
  3. (transitive) To utter quaveringly.
    • We shall hear her quavering them […] to some sprightly airs of the opera.1711 November 4 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, October 25, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 205; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a...
    Synonyms:
    wobble

See all 6 meanings of quaver

Adjective

quavering (not comparable)

  1. Trembling, or prone to trembling and shaking.

Noun

quavering (plural quaverings)

  1. The act of something that quavers.
    • the quaverings and warblings in lutes and pipes1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...

Forms of quavering

pluralquaverings

Questions about quavering

What does quavering mean?
Quavering means trembling, or prone to trembling and shaking.
What is quavering the present participle and gerund of?
Quavering is the present participle and gerund of quaver.
What part of speech is quavering?
Quavering can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near quavering in the dictionary

  1. quaver rests
  2. quavered
  3. quaverer
  4. quaverers
  5. quaveriness
  6. quavering
  7. quaveringly
  8. quaverings
  9. quaverous
  10. quavers
  11. quavery

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quavering (page history and authors); quaver (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “quavering.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quavering. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.