Meaning & use
tremulous
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableliterary
Shaking or quivering slightly, often because of fear, weakness or strong feeling.
Grammar: Often describes a voice, hand or smile: a tremulous voice.
Patterns
- a tremulous voice
Her voice was tremulous as she read the letter.
He took the cup in a tremulous hand.
A tremulous sigh escaped her lips.
adjectivecomparableliterary
Nervous, timid or unsure, showing fear of what may happen.
Grammar: Can describe a person or a feeling: tremulous hope.
Patterns
- tremulous hope
She gave a tremulous smile, unsure of the answer.
They waited in tremulous hope for news.
The tremulous child hid behind his mother.
Word forms
| comparative | more tremulous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most tremulous |
Common combinations
- tremulous voice
- His tremulous voice gave away his nerves.
- tremulous smile
- She offered a tremulous smile.
- tremulous hand
- The old man wrote with a tremulous hand.
- tremulous light
- A tremulous light flickered on the water.
- tremulous hope
- They felt a tremulous hope that he would return.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trembling
- Trembling is the everyday word and can describe visible shaking, whereas tremulous is more delicate and literary.
- shaky
- Shaky is informal and may suggest weakness or doubt in general, while tremulous suggests fine, emotional quivering.
- quivering
- Quivering suggests a rapid slight movement, much like tremulous but less poetic.
- timorous
- Timorous means fearful in character, whereas tremulous describes the visible shaking.
Opposites
Word family
- tremor noun
- a slight shaking
- tremble verb
- to shake slightly
- tremulously adverb
- in a shaking, nervous way
- tremulousness noun
- the state of shaking slightly
Commonly confused: tremulous or tremendous? tremulous or timorous?
tremulous vs tremendous
Tremendous means very great or excellent, which is far from the shaking sense of tremulous, even though both come from the same root.
tremulous vs timorous
Timorous describes a fearful nature, while tremulous describes a shaking voice or hand.
Practice
Which phrase best describes a voice that wobbles slightly with nerves?
Choose one answer.
Tremulous means quivering, as a nervous voice does. Tremendous means huge, and steady is the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tremulous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.