waver

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“
One of the Orientals was seen to waver, then to fall backward.

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Definitions (28)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. intransitive verb To move unsteadily back and forth. See Synonyms at swing.
  2. intransitive verb To exhibit irresolution or indecision; vacillate: wavered over buying a house. See Synonyms at hesitate.
  3. intransitive verb To become unsteady or unsure; falter: His resolve began to waver.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (10)

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Examples (50)

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This word has been looked up 128 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

quaver ·  hesitancy ·  irresolution ·  dovo ·  fluctuation ·  steely

Used in the same contextWord Family

waver:   wavers ·  wavered ·  wavering
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English waveren; see webh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English waveren, wayveren, vacillate, from Anglo-Saxon as if *wafrian (cf. wæfre, wavering, wandering, restless: said of flame and fire, the mind or spirit, etc.) = Middle High German waberen, German dial. wabern, waver, totter, move to and fro, = Icelandic vafra, hover about, = Norwegian vavra, flap about; also, with variant suffix, Middle High German wabelen, webelen, fluctuate, waver, = Icelandic vafla, hover about (see wabble); freq. of the verb represented by wave, q. v.
  2. from wave + -er.
  3. Perhaps from wave + -er (?).
 

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/ˈweɪvər/
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