waver
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To feel or show doubt or indecision.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wayverSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈweɪvɚ
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.
verb
intransitivefigurative
To feel or show doubt or indecision; to be indecisive between choices; to vacillate.
intransitivefigurative
To begin to weaken or show signs of weakening in resolve; to falter, to flinch, to give way.
intransitive
To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
intransitivefigurative
Of a body part such as an eye or hand, or the voice: to become unsteady; to shake, to tremble.
intransitivefigurative
Of light, shadow, or a partly obscured thing: to flicker, to glimmer, to quiver.
intransitivefigurative
Chiefly of a quality or thing: to change, to fluctuate, to vary.
noun
figurative
A state of feeling or showing doubt or indecision; a vacillation.
An act of moving back and forth, swinging, or waving; a flutter, a tremble.
figurative
A state of beginning to weaken or showing signs of weakening in resolve; a falter.
One who waves their arms, or causes something to swing or wave.
A river in northern Cumbria, England, which flows into the Solway Firth.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (figurative) To begin to weaken or show signs of weakening in resolve; to falter, to flinch, to give way.
Used this way, waver is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An extreme bellicose nationalist.
A film maker who follows New Wave ideas.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.