Tremulous

WORD OF THE DAY

 

TREMULOUS \ trem-yuh-luh-s \ adjective

 

Definition

1: characterized by or affected with trembling or tremors

 

2a: affected with timidity
2b: timorous

 

3: such as is or might be caused by nervousness or shakiness

 

4a: exceedingly sensitive

4b: easily shaken or disordered

 

Examples

The piece begins with the tremulous tones of a violin coming from what sounds like a great distance.

"After half a lifetime spent curating literary events, there is one audience question to which I remain violently allergic…. Up goes a diffident hand in the back row and a tremulous voice pipes up 'I just wonder if you could tell us where you get your ideas from?'"

— Bert Wright, The Irish Times, 21 Sept. 2015

 

Did You Know?

Do you suspect that tremulous must be closely related to tremble? If so, there's no need to be tremulous in voicing your suspicion: both of those words derive from the Latin verb tremere, which means "to tremble."

Some other English offspring of tremere are tremor, tremendous, temblor (another word for an earthquake), and tremolo (a term that describes a vibrating and quavering musical effect that was particularly popular for electric guitars and organs in the 1970s).