vibration
noun
Simple meaning
Any periodic process.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vybrayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
vaɪbˈɹeɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The act of vibrating or the condition of being vibrated.
A distinctive emotional aura experienced instinctively
“That place gave me bad vibrations.”
physics
Any periodic process, especially a rapid linear motion of a body about an equilibrium position.
A single complete vibrating motion.
physics
A shaky motion
by extensionslangoften in the plural
An instinctively sensed emotional aura or atmosphere.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any periodic process, especially a rapid linear motion of a body about an equilibrium position.
Used this way, vibration is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use vibration
- “That place gave me bad vibrations.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Vibration produced by resonance.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Of or relating to or characterized by vibration.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.