Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To move back and forth or to and fro, especially rhythmically and rapidly: synonym: swing.
- intransitive verb To progress in a given direction while moving back and forth rapidly.
- intransitive verb To be in a state of great activity, excitement, or agitation.
- intransitive verb To produce a sound; resonate.
- intransitive verb To fluctuate or waver, as between states or in making choices.
- intransitive verb To cause to move back and forth rapidly.
- intransitive verb To produce (sound) by vibration.
- noun A setting on a cell phone that causes the phone to shake rapidly without producing a ringtone when a call or text message is received.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To swing; oscillate; move one way and the other; play to and fro, as the pendulum.
- To move in any kind of stationary motion under forces of restitution, commonly with a rapid motion.
- To produce a vibratory or resonant effect; thrill; quiver: as, a whisper vibrates on the ear.
- To fluctuate or waver, as between two opinions.
- To cause to move or wave to and fro; cause to swing or oscillate; hence, to throw with a vibratory motion; hurl.
- To affect with vibratory motion; cause to quiver: as, vibrated breath.
- To measure or indicate by vibrating or oscillating: as, a pendulum vibrating seconds.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To brandish; to move to and fro; to swing.
- transitive verb To mark or measure by moving to and fro.
- transitive verb To affect with vibratory motion; to set in vibration.
- intransitive verb To move to and fro, or from side to side, as a pendulum, an elastic rod, or a stretched string, when disturbed from its position of rest; to swing; to oscillate.
- intransitive verb To have the constituent particles move to and fro, with alternate compression and dilation of parts, as the air, or any elastic body; to quiver.
- intransitive verb To produce an oscillating or quivering effect of sound.
- intransitive verb To pass from one state to another; to waver; to fluctuate.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Move with small movements rapidly
to and fro . - verb
Resonate . - noun The
setting , on aportable electronic device , that causes it to vibrate rather thansound any (or most) neededalarms .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb move or swing from side to side regularly
- verb shake, quiver, or throb; move back and forth rapidly, usually in an uncontrolled manner
- verb feel sudden intense sensation or emotion
- verb sound with resonance
- verb be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word vibrate.
Examples
-
I could sit and listen and hear him deep in the earth, feel his call vibrate through my body, and I was close, so close.
Raziel Kristine Douglas 2011
-
I could sit and listen and hear him deep in the earth, feel his call vibrate through my body, and I was close, so close.
Raziel Kristine Douglas 2011
-
The technology that makes a cell phone vibrate is the same technology that provides more natural movements to prosthetic limbs.
November 16th, 2007 2007
-
One must laugh and weep, love, work, enjoy and suffer, in short vibrate as much as possible in all his being.
-
One must laugh and weep, love, work, enjoy and suffer, in short vibrate as much as possible in all his being.
The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters Sand, George, 1804-1876 1921
-
One must laugh and weep, love, work, enjoy and suffer, in short vibrate as much as possible in all his being.
The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters Gustave Flaubert 1850
-
For the heroine's despair comes from feeling not that she will never fall "under another influence," but, less passively (and less idiomatically), that she will never "vibrate" (as in resonate) to such an influence — in the full sense of sympathetic vibration.
-
(I know I don't even have to mention common-sense courtesies like keeping the boom box volume at a dull roar and setting cell phones to "vibrate," hmmm?)
-
And here I thought he had the phone set on "vibrate" or what one priest I know refers to as "stun" LOL
Do You Hear What I Hear? Michelle 2009
-
They have a "vibrate" function for a reason, and the last thing I want to hear when I'm watching the teaser trailer for Slither II is your otherwise incredibly clever and geekishly sexy ring tone.
seanan_mcguire: Seanan's Guide to Surviving the San Diego Comic Convention, 2009 Edition. seanan_mcguire 2009
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.