tremulous

From Latin tremulus, from tremō (“I shake”). Cognate to Ancient Greek τρέμω (trémō).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛmjuləs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

tremulous (comparative more tremulous, superlative most tremulous)

1. Trembling, quivering, or shaking.
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 3, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     The trying nature of his position drove the blood from his cheek, and made his lips tremulous.

   • 1892, Walt Whitman, “Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC:

     Again she holds me by the hand, I must not go, / I see her close beside me with silent lips sad and tremulous.

   • 1919, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 27, in A Man Four-Square:

     "Thank God!" he cried brokenly, all the pent emotion of the long night vibrant in his tremulous voice.

   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 12, in Crime out of Mind‎:

     Light filtered in through the blinds of the french windows. It made tremulous stripes along the scrubbed pine floor.

2. Timid, hesitant; lacking confidence.
   • 1891, Grant Allen, chapter 15, in The Great Taboo:

     "You have lived here long?" Felix asked, with tremulous interest, as he took a seat.

   • 2009 October 7, Christopher Kimball, “Opinion: Gourmet to All That”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 August 2012:

     This, hard on the heels of the death of Julia Child in 2004, makes one tremulous about the future.

• (trembling, quivering, or shaking): quaking, shaking, trembling, tremulant
• (timid, hesitant, or unconfident): timid, wavering

• tremble
• tremor