as in shaking
marked by or given to small uncontrollable bodily movements
with a shuddering extension of his hand, the poor beggar asked for a little charity
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in trembling
a series of slight movements by a body back and forth or from side to side
tried to control the shuddering of his hand
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in jerking
to make a series of small irregular or violent movements
huddled in the basement, we shuddered with fear as we heard the approaching tornado
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shuddering
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
Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2026
Sat shuddering in my seat as the lights drew down.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 15 Feb. 2026
Most of the camp was enclosed with an electrified fence, to keep out the Big Men, the massive, shuddering ursids that could not be named (more on that later).
—Literary Hub, 15 Dec. 2025
Green, who was crowned the inaugural champion back in December 2024, saw her first reign come to a shuddering halt at the hands of Zelina Vega.
—Andrew Ravens, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025
The White House will be well aware of this fact, particularly in an environment where fiscally conservative Republicans will be shuddering at Uncle Sam’s $37 trillion (and growing) national debt.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2025
The shuddering horror of the Coldplay couple.
—Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2025
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
Verb
That all came to a shuddering halt after Khashoggi’s death.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2026
Sat shuddering in my seat as the lights drew down.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 15 Feb. 2026
Most of the camp was enclosed with an electrified fence, to keep out the Big Men, the massive, shuddering ursids that could not be named (more on that later).
—Literary Hub, 15 Dec. 2025
Green, who was crowned the inaugural champion back in December 2024, saw her first reign come to a shuddering halt at the hands of Zelina Vega.
—Andrew Ravens, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025
The White House will be well aware of this fact, particularly in an environment where fiscally conservative Republicans will be shuddering at Uncle Sam’s $37 trillion (and growing) national debt.
—Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 20 Aug. 2025
The shuddering horror of the Coldplay couple.
—Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shuddering
Noun
-
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
Verb
-
On Thursday night, after shaking off a deal that was short-circuited by another team, the Ravens would make a pick (Penn State guard Vega Ioane) that symbolically spoke to the franchise’s core values.—
Michael Silver,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Backstage, everyone was crying and shaking, Pearlman says.—
Ethan Shanfeld,
Variety,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
During this phase, octopuses display visible twitching along with rapid changes in skin color and texture, per NPR.—
Samantha Agate,
Miami Herald,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Gosnell did not testify at his 2013 trial, but his defense attorney argued that none of the fetuses were born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms, according to the AP.—
Greg Norman-Diamond,
FOXNews.com,
24 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Pull the tick out gently, without jerking or ripping.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Tony Fauci was not just jerking the country around.—
David Blumenthal,
Fortune,
24 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
That week’s host, Emily Blunt, did the trembly voice-over.—
Michael Schulman,
The New Yorker,
21 Dec. 2020
Noun
-
The Steam Controller has a rumble motor that can alternate between strong and subtle vibrations with equal utility, and magnetic TMR thumbsticks that should be less susceptible to the kind of drift inherent to sticks with physical contacts.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 Apr. 2026
-
And as a result, there is no atmospheric pressure, which means that without a medium like air or molecules to carry vibrations, sound cannot travel.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
In the 1970s, James Lovelock proposed that the biosphere was not just green scruff quivering on Earth's surface.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
23 Apr. 2026
-
The child had jumped at the sting, her bottom lip quivering.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Mar. 2026
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
Cite this Entry
“Shuddering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shuddering. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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