TREMBLING Synonyms: 56 Similar and Opposite Words

trembling 1 of 3

adjective

as in shaking

marked by or given to small uncontrollable bodily movements trembling from the cold

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

trembling

2 of 3

noun

as in twitching

a series of slight movements by a body back and forth or from side to side at the first sign of the room's trembling, I ducked for cover, for I was certain that it was the start of the big quake

Synonyms & Similar Words

trembling

3 of 3

verb

present participle of tremble

as in quivering

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of trembling

Noun

Across campus, students raised trembling voices, burst into applause, and brushed away tears. — Jeannine Chiang, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2026 Betelgeuse and the Pleiades hung—one billowing, one trembling—out of sight somewhere past the window frame. — Literary Hub, 19 Aug. 2026 When the trembling decreased, the 27-year-old mother took the stairs seven stories down with her young child in her arms and evacuated the building. — Nicole Acevedo, NBC news, 10 Aug. 2026 All the trembling, as Kimbangu touched the sick, alarmed European settlers and reassured the plantation workers who trekked to Nkamba in search of healing. — Rodney Muhumuza, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026 At first this change of scale vivifies the butterfly—its brief stillness, the angle of its wings, its trembling—while freezing everything else, including the novel’s action. — Ben Lerner, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026 Its strength ranges from mild, causing little more discomfort than a slight trembling, to severe, in which passengers or flight crew can be thrown around the cabin and risk injury if not wearing seatbelts. — Cat Rainsford, Popular Science, 15 Jan. 2026 There’s Walter’s serene cello and Marjorie’s pensive, slightly coy violin, sometimes playful or petulant or, still, a little vain and secretive — other times thin and trembling, lost in the haze of dementia. — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2025 Olsen plays Joan’s indecision with winsome fluster, at first breathy and trembling but eventually finding her resolve. — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for trembling

Adjective

Stocks are near all-time highs, but the bond market looks much shakier and consumer confidence is decidedly sour even if people do keep spending.

— Evan Clark, Footwear News, 14 Oct. 2026
On offense, the Rays' lineup got to Messick in the fourth thanks to some shaky Cleveland defense.

— Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of shaky

Noun

Despite the widespread shaking, the most extensive structural damage was reported in communities closer to the epicenter.

— Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2026
With its silly oversized thumbs and frantic shaking needed to escape pins, this mini-game is one example of how a game like Nintendo Switch Sports Resort could make some older gamers feel self-conscious.

— Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of shaking

Verb

And as Ternus thumbs through the $1,999-and-up phone, attempting to drag a photo into a text-message box, eagle-eyed viewers notice his hands quivering.

— Andrew R. Chow, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
Ishibashi makes for a resilient and empathetic Junna, even as her character inevitably bears the brunt of much of the film’s divisive moralizing, while Emoto’s Morio is a quivering wreck of fragility and good intentions.

— Guy Lodge, Variety, 11 Oct. 2026

Definition of quivering

Adjective

Standing 10 yards in front of us on a corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue was a shivering elderly woman who looked lost.

— Richard Greenberg, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2026
What she’s produced is a searching, pointedly disorienting text, studded with passages of extreme beauty and generous humor, that wears whimsy like a shivering veil over consuming discomfort, even terror.

— Paul McAdory, Vulture, 22 Sep. 2025

Definition of shivering

Noun

These devices are important components of optical atomic clocks, which use the vibrations of atoms at optical frequencies to measure time.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2026
Bushings are components that help reduce vibration, according to WSB.

— Isa Mudannayake, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of vibration

Noun

The director again shows his action smarts by creating a brief lull — albeit while leaning hard on one of the more sudsy passages of composer Fernando Velázquez’s generic score — before the next shuddering impact sends the number of casualties skyrocketing.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 28 Apr. 2026
Fellow clubgoers splashed cold water on his face in an attempt to stop the shuddering.

— Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 31 Oct. 2025

Definition of shuddering

Browse Nearby Words

trembles

trembling

trembly

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“Trembling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/trembling. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of trembling

adjective

noun

verb

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