noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Anxiety over the uncertain future or possible ill-occurrence. countable, uncountable

   "I decided, with considerable trepidation, to let him drive my car without me."

2. 2
   a feeling of alarm or dread wordnet
3. 3
   An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   A libration of the starry sphere in the Ptolemaic system; a motion ascribed to the firmament, to account for certain small changes in the position of the ecliptic and of the stars. countable, obsolete, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

agitationagitationalarmapprehensionapprehensivenessattack of nerves

Example

More examples

"We are waiting with trepidation to be proved wrong."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin trepidātiō, from trepidō (“be agitated”).

Related phrases

ptolemaic system

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.