tremulous

English

Etymology

From Latin tremulus, from tremō (“I tremble, shake”) + -ulus. Doublet of tremor and tremble. By surface analysis, tremulate +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛmjʊləs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛmjuləs/, /ˈtɹɛmjələs/

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• Hyphenation: trem‧u‧lous
• Rhymes: -ləs

Adjective

tremulous (comparative more tremulous, superlative most tremulous)

1. Trembling, quivering, or shaking.

   Synonyms: quaking, shivering, shaky, trembly, tremulant

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Recognition”, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 79:

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

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter I, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 1:

     […] Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs[.]

   • 1892, Walt Whitman, “Children of Adam: Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City”, in Leaves of Grass , Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, , →OCLC, page 94:

     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 XXVII, in A Man Four-Square, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, →OCLC, page 225:

     “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, New York: I Washburn:

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

2. Timid, hesitant; lacking confidence.

   Synonyms: fearful, timorous, wavering

   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. , volume III, London: for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC, page 39:

     In the mean time I worked on, and my labour was already considerably advanced. I looked towards its completion with a tremulous and eager hope, which I dared not trust myself to question, but which was intermixed with obscure forebodings of evil, that made my heart sicken in my bosom.

   • 1891, Grant Allen, chapter XV, in The Great Taboo, New York: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 132:

     “You have lived here long?” Felix asked, with tremulous interest, as he took a seat on the bench under the big tree, towards which his new host politely motioned him.

   • 2009 October 7, Christopher Kimball, “Opinion: Gourmet to All That”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-27:

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

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• “tremulous”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “tremulous”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “tremulous, a.”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.