shudder
Syllables: shud·derUK/ˈʃʌdə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northern England/ˈʃʊdə/
shudder verb: to shake nervously, often from fear or horror.
Verb
shudder (third-person singular simple present shudders, present participle shuddering, simple past and past participle shuddered)
- To shake nervously, often from fear or horror.
- On seeing the spider under his pillow, John shuddered.
- VVreath'd vp in fatall folds iuſt in his way, / The feare where of doth make him ſhake, & ſhudder, […]1594, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC, signature Fiij, verso, lines [879–880]
- To vibrate jerkily.
Noun
shudder (plural shudders)
- A shivering tremor, often from fear or horror.
- Seeing the spider under his pillow gave John a shudder.
- A moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson.
- They name thee before me, / A knell to mine ear; / A shudder comes o'er me— / Why wert thou so dear?c. 1816, Lord Byron, When we Two parted
- … and was not that slight tremble, a shudder which went through her young body, when his kiss, glowing and scorching with his wild passion, had dared to touch her tiny ice-cold hand?1906 January, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 22, in A Son of the People: A Romance of the Hungarian Plains, London: Greening & Co., →OCLC
shudder meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
shudder in Hindi
- shivering tremor
- सिहरन sihran, कँपकँपी kãpkãpī
shudder in Tamil
- அதிர்வு திகிலுறு, நடுக்கம்
shudder in Marathi
- to shake nervously, as if from fear
- भीतिने कापणे bhītine kāpṇe
- to vibrate jerkily
- हुडहुडी भरणे huḍhuḍī bharṇe
- shivering tremor
- हुडहुडी huḍhuḍī
- moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson
- थरकाप tharkāp
shudder in Urdu
- پھریری, کپکپانا, پھریری لینا
More languagesFewer languages
- shudder in Bengali
- শিহরিত হওয়া, ভয়ে কাঁপা
- shudder in Malayalam
- ഞെടുക്കം ñeṭukkaṁ, ഞെടുങ്ങുക ñeṭuṅṅuka, തരിക്കുക tarikkuka
- shudder in Kannada
- ನಡುಗು, ಕಂಪಿಸು, ಹೆದರು, ಅದುರು
- shudder in Punjabi
- ਤਭਕਣਾ tabhkaṇā
- shudder in Sanskrit
- त्रसति trásati
- shudder in Assamese
- জোঁকাৰ zü̃kar
- shudder in Persian
- چندش čendeš
Examples of shudder in a sentence
- Once he had grasped the controls, he unleashed a demonic laugh that made his hostages shudder.
- You shudder as cramps force another hot, wet rush of muck into your diaper, refreshing the stink.
- He didn't relent until the last shudder rippled through her beautiful body.
Synonyms of shudder
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of shudder
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | shudders |
| present participle | shuddering |
| past participle | shuddered |
| past | shuddered |
| Noun | |
| plural | shudders |
Origin of shudder
From Middle English schoderen, schuderen, possibly from Middle Dutch schudderen and/or Middle Low German schodderen, iterative forms of the verb at hand in Dutch schudden, Low German schüdden (both “to shake”), German schütten (“to pour”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuddjan, from Proto-Germanic *skudjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewdʰ-. From Low German are also borrowed German schaudern (“to shudder”), Danish skudre, Swedish skudda. Alternatively, possibly from an unrecorded Old English *sċudrian, an iterative variant to Old English sċūdan (“to shudder, quake”), from Proto-West Germanic *skudrōn (“to shake, tremble”), from the same source as the Middle Dutch and Middle Low German terms above.
Words formed from shudder
Phrases with shudder
Words that rhyme with shudder
Questions about shudder
- What does shudder mean?
- Shudder means to shake nervously, often from fear or horror.
- What is shudder in Hindi?
- Shudder in Hindi is सिहरन (sihran), कँपकँपी (kãpkãpī). See Shudder meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is shudder?
- Shudder can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce shudder?
- Shudder is pronounced /ˈʃʌdə/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of shudder?
- The past tense of shudder is shuddered.
Words near shudder in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shudder (page history and authors); shudder (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shudder (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shudder (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ഞെടുക്കം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); shudder (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਤਭਕਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); জোঁকাৰ (Assamese) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-shudder.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shudder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shudder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.