Shudder
/ˈʃʌd.ə/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A shivering tremor, often from fear or horror.
"Seeing the spider under his pillow gave John a shudder."
- 2 an involuntary vibration (as if from illness or fear) wordnet
- 3 A moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson.
"They name thee before me, / A knell to mine ear; / A shudder comes o'er me— / Why wert thou so dear?"
- 4 an almost pleasurable sensation of fright wordnet
Verb
- 1 To shake nervously, often from fear or horror. intransitive
"On seeing the spider under his pillow, John shuddered."
- 2 shake, as from cold wordnet
- 3 To vibrate jerkily. intransitive
- 4 tremble convulsively, as from fear or excitement wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The sound of an awful scream made him shudder."
Etymology
From Middle English schoderen, from Middle Dutch schudderen and/or Middle Low German schodderen, iterative forms of the verb at hand in Dutch schudden, Low German schüdden (both “to shake”), German schütten (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *skudjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewdʰ-. From Low German are also borrowed German schaudern (“to shudder”), Danish skudre.