Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use trepidation in a sentence

15 example sentences · noun

Trepidation means anxiety over the uncertain future or possible ill-occurrence. Example: “I decided, with considerable trepidation, to let him drive my car without me.”

Examples of trepidation by meaning

nounAnxiety over the uncertain future or possible ill-occurrence.

  • I decided, with considerable trepidation, to let him drive my car without me.
  • She found its gloomy nineteenth-century façade, black with the smuts of ninety years, a little daunting, and mounted its broad steps in some trepidation.1915, Edgar Jepson, “The Reluctant Duke”, in Happy Pollyooly: The Rich Little Poor Girl, Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC...
  • She opened the drawing-room door in trepidation.1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, chapter VII, in A House is Built

More sentences with trepidation

  • Memories of their sense of trepidation, or even the anger, aboard a matatu could still be visceral.2017, Kenda Mutongi, Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi, page 98. From the entry matatu
  • Our trepidation at being savaged by a vicious pig dog was soon allayed, however.2009, Evan McHugh, Birdsville, ReadHowYouWant, published 2011, page 139. From the entry sooky
  • With trepidation, but not embarrassment, I offer the thought that Mrs.2008 January 12, Conrad Black, “A nation seeking a hero”, in National Post, Canada. From the entry callipygian
  • A small bit of relief tamped her initial trepidation.2017, Ari Thatcher, Loving Her Alphas. From the entry tamp
  • "There was warmth, but there was also trepidation," said the head of one gay group, who attended the reception.2009 June 29, Chris Good, “Obama's Warm LGBT Reception”, in The Atlantic. From the entry reception
  • Burk replied in his husky Dalek voice without looking at the King but also without any trepidation: 'I was christened Herbert Burk.'1982, Jakov Lind, Travels to the Enu: Story of a Shipwreck, page 60. From the entry Dalek voice
  • I write 'homosexuality ' with some trepidation, since anti-homosexualism is a prejudice as discreditable as anti-semitism; and I am not the late Roy Campbell.1967, The Listener. From the entry anti-homosexualism
  • In some trepidation the priest and his friend accompanied the wolf to his den, where lay a she-wolf on the point of death.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 212. From the entry she-wolf
  • As the General straightened his tall, slight form, his tobacco-lighting accomplished, Duff Green, breathing pursily from a dash of trepidation, could not forbear comment.1903, Alfred Henry Lewis, chapter 2, in Peggy O’Neal, Philadelphia: Drexel Biddle, page 52. From the entry pursily
  • Before I apply a full treatment to this wet hole, I need to check the fit for maximum friction.” Lexie shuddered, trepidation and hunger driving her adrenaline higher.2018 May 21, Kate Allure, Laying Pipe, Entangled Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry drilldo
  • I can tell you first-hand that we are dealing with a regime that is not being forthright and will seize upon the faintest whiff of trepidation.2014 February 14, Kenneth Lin, “Chapter 18”, in House of Cards, season 2, episode 5, spoken by Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey). From the entry whiff
  • The premiere of Billy Siegenfeld's Getting There, however, does get there: these dancers seem real people on the streets whose emotions run the gamut from trepidation to snappy slaphappiness.1994 September 16, Maura Troester, “Body and Soul”, in Chicago Reader. From the entry slaphappiness

Meaning of trepidation

  1. noun Anxiety over the uncertain future or possible ill-occurrence.
  2. noun An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear.
  3. noun A libration of the starry sphere in the Ptolemaic system; a motion ascribed to the firmament, to account for certain small changes in the position of the ecliptic and of the stars.

Full definition of trepidation

Questions about trepidation in a sentence

How do you use trepidation in a sentence?
Trepidation is used as a noun. For example: “I decided, with considerable trepidation, to let him drive my car without me.”
What is a short sentence with trepidation?
“She opened the drawing-room door in trepidation.”
What does trepidation mean?
Trepidation means anxiety over the uncertain future or possible ill-occurrence.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: trepidation (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use trepidation in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/trepidation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.