vibrate

UK/vaɪˈbɹeɪt//ˈvaɪ.bɹeɪt/

vibrate verb: to shake with small, rapid movements to and fro.

Verb

vibrate (third-person singular simple present vibrates, present participle vibrating, simple past and past participle vibrated)

(intransitive) To shake with small, rapid movements to and fro.
- When "God save the King!" resounded meow meow through the stately abbey, the banners vibrating with the mighty music, I felt quite enthusiastic in my loyalty.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Coronation”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 5
- The tender roared along vibrating vigorously; braking had resulted in "flats" on most of its tyres.1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 706
(intransitive) To resonate.
- Her mind was vibrating with excitement.
(transitive) To brandish; to swing to and fro.
- to vibrate a sword or a staff
(transitive) To mark or measure by moving to and fro.
- a pendulum vibrating seconds
(transitive) To affect with vibratory motion; to set in vibration.
- Breath vocalized, i.e., vibrated or undulated, may […] impress a swift, tremulous motion.1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC
- Star to star vibrates light: may soul to soul / Strike thro' a finer element of her own?1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 81
(dated, slang, transitive) To please or impress someone.
- And if he wants to give you high praise, he'll answer, "That vibrates me"; "That has a large charge"; or "That's oogley."1949, Ladies' Home Journal, volume 66, page 115
- […] standing side by side under a Grecian column, tapping their feet in unison and saying such things as "Hot-diggety,” “Razz-ma-tazz," “That vibrates me," and other expressions of praise current in their youth.1961, Congressional Record
(intransitive) To use vibrato.
(slang, transitive) To pleasure someone using a vibrator.
- Downstairs in the living-room Jill
  Was vibrating herself for a thrill.1999 March 27, PeterW, “Jack with Jill”, in alt.jokes.limericks (Usenet)

Noun

vibrate (uncountable)

The setting, on a portable electronic device, that causes it to vibrate rather than sound any (or most) needed alarms.
- Please put your cellphones on vibrate for the duration of the meeting.
Synonyms:

vibrate mode

Adjective

vibrate (comparative more vibrate, superlative most vibrate)

(rare) Vibrating with (something).

vibrate meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

vibrate in Tamil

to move with small movements rapidly: அதிர் atir

vibrate in Urdu

to vibrate: ارتعاش دینا irti'āś denā

vibrate in Bengali

কম্পন করা, কম্পিত করা

More languagesFewer languages

vibrate in Malayalam: കുലുങ്ങുക kuluṅṅuka, തുടിക്കുക tuṭikkuka, വിറയ്ക്കുക viṟaykkuka
vibrate in Kannada: ಎಲೆಮಿಡುಕು, ವೇಗವಾಗಿ ಹೊಯ್ದಾಡು, ಅಲುಗಾಡು, ನಡುಗು
vibrate in Punjabi: ਥਰਕਣਾ tharkaṇā
vibrate in Gujarati: કંપન કરવા માટે
vibrate in Odia: ନାଚିବା nācibā
vibrate in Sanskrit: स्पन्द् spand
vibrate in Nepali: कम्पन गर्नाका निम्ति
vibrate in Vietnamese: rung, rung động, rung cảm

Examples of vibrate in a sentence

The subwoofer in the trunk was so loud, it vibrated the tag like an aluminum can.
The sequence of the operation is: screed, vibrate, then screed again.
It is an intolerable sound that sets spoons tinkling in saucers and windowpanes vibrating.

All 33 example sentences with vibrate

Synonyms of vibrate

vibrate mode

Forms of vibrate

Verb
third-person singular present	vibrates
present participle	vibrating
past participle	vibrated
past	vibrated
Adjective
comparative	more vibrate
superlative	most vibrate

Past tense of vibrate: vibrated

Origin of vibrate

The adjective (then also used as a participle) is first attested in 1420, in Middle English, the verb in 1620; partly from Middle English vibrat(e) (“reverberant”), partly directly borrowed from Latin vibrātus, perfect passive participle of vibrō (“to agitate, set in tremulous motion”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to oscillate, swing”) or *weyb-.

Words formed from vibrate

Phrases with vibrate

Words that rhyme with vibrate

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about vibrate

What does vibrate mean?: Vibrate means to shake with small, rapid movements to and fro.
What is vibrate in Tamil?: Vibrate in Tamil is அதிர் (atir). See Vibrate meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is vibrate?: Vibrate can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce vibrate?: Vibrate is pronounced /vaɪˈbɹeɪt/ (UK).
What is the past tense of vibrate?: The past tense of vibrate is vibrated.

Words near vibrate in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: vibrate (page history and authors); vibrate (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ارتعاش دینا (Urdu) (page history and authors); vibrate (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); കുലുങ്ങുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); vibrate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਥਰਕਣਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); vibrate (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ନାଚିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); स्पन्द् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); vibrate (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-vibrate.ogg.

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