Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A state of alarm or dread; apprehension. See Synonyms at fear.
- n. An involuntary trembling or quivering.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Tremulous agitation; perturbation; alarm.
- n. A trembling of the limbs, as in paralytic affections.
- n. A vibratory motion; a vibration.
- n. In ancient astronomy, a libration of the eighth sphere, or a motion which the Ptolemaic system ascribes to the firmament to account for certain phenomena, especially precession, really due to motions of the axis of the earth.
- n. Synonyms Tremor, Emotion, etc. (see agitation), flutter, tremulousness, discomposure.
Wiktionary
- n. A fearful state; a state of hesitation or concern.
- n. An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear; quaking; quivering.
- n. astronomy, obsolete A libration of the starry sphere in the Ptolemaic system; a motion ascribed to the firmament, to account for certain small changes in the position of the ecliptic and of the stars.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear; quaking; quivering.
- n. Hence, a state of terror or alarm; fear; confusion; fright.
- n. (Anc. Astron.) A libration of the starry sphere in the Ptolemaic system; a motion ascribed to the firmament, to account for certain small changes in the position of the ecliptic and of the stars.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a feeling of alarm or dread
Etymologies
- From Latin trepidātiō, from trepidō ("be agitated") (Wiktionary)
- Latin trepidātiō, trepidātiōn-, from trepidātus, past participle of trepidāre, to be in a state of confusion, from trepidus, anxious. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Because this pervasive trepidation is unprecedented in their lifetime, most Americans have reflexively invoked the Depression in their efforts to comprehend their experience.”
“So, Saturday, I ran up to the local place, armed with a certain trepidation for an inflated price.”
“With that the cub passed out the door in trepidation to the last for fear that Brissenden would hit him in the back with the bottle he still clutched.”
“A very nice young man, of whom no maid's mother need ever be in trepidation; a very strong young man, whose substance had not been wasted in riotous living; a very learned young man, with a Freiberg mining engineer's diploma and a B.A. sheepskin from Yale; and, lastly,”
“Presently F himself rushes in horror & trepidation from the room and while still expressing his agony & terror”
“I always feel a certain trepidation when I read the work of a friend, especially one who has given me as much encouragement and help as sartorias has.”
“Adding to my trepidation is this primary poll from Survey USA, which confirms Roulstone's campaign doesn't yet have the profile it needs.”
“I don't know why I say that. [oh look i'm crying again] I watched it with a certain trepidation, and halfway through the clip, when images of the results of the white phosphorous began showing, I could not stop crying.”
“Xmas hurtles at us like a skateboarding troll trundling downhill - it's big, impressive, but to be viewed with a certain trepidation by those in its path.”
Toys R Us - Military Sword & Sorcery is coming ("#### Harry Potter! Daddy, where's my axe?")
“The world watches in trepidation as the wildfires of chaos sweep from France across Europe.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘trepidation’.
-
important
shamanism, consol, sanguine, iffy, affinity, concatenation, honed, innumberable, aiden, inexorable, vet, suss and 176 more...
-
GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
-
From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
-
Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
-
Vocabulary 2
peril, precinct, embolden, trepidation, glean, quorum, laud, leap, leery, fumble, repertory, serendipity and 3 more...
-
Express Yourself
Words Describing Emotions
abhor, diffident, bullience, effusice, enervate, frenetic, impetuous, implacable, listless, mercurial, rancorous, reticent and 7 more...
-
Unfamiliar Words
dank, refrain, hostage, frigid, warden, atrocious, squirm, kinship, riot, counterfeit, stamped, scaffolding and 59 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
MYWORDS1
-
Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
-
Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
-
Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
-
Vocab ##5
appint, monarch, counterpart, muse, bestow, unwitting, aghast, admonish, wage, decree, cavalry, phalanx and 126 more...
-
SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
-
collection
sanguine, vie, antebellum, glacial, treacly, iconoclast, lissom, anathema, serendipity, parsimonious, histrionic, contemptuous and 279 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for trepidation.
jwjarvis the once vibrant health care alternative of lodge practice, which less than two decades before had inspired trepidation throughout the medical establishment, had virtually disappeared Sep 14, 2010
Ido Berger Eating Animals Jun 28, 2010
qroqqa But trepidation of the spheares,
Though greater farre, is innocent.
—Donne, 'A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning'
The touching of the Ptolemaic spheres one upon the other produced the music of the spheres. Jul 15, 2008
five I hate this word. It is simply overused, particularly by sci-fi, fantasy, and gothic fiction authors. The worst abuse I have seen is in Bloodline by Kate Cary (which is, despite good reviews on Amazon, an absolute literary abomination!) Apr 17, 2008