Verb Her voice quavered during the speech. He spoke in quavering tones. Noun There was a quaver in his voice.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
Occasionally his voice quavered but mostly Affleck spoke earnestly and straightforwardly.Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2020 Most earthquakes, including those that quavered under southern California this week, stem from cracks in the earth’s crust, known as faults. Anya Van Wagtendonk, Vox, 4 July 2019 Cracked, punched, slathered, and slabbed, Zhang’s works are visceral embodiments of quavering humanity. Julia Couzens, sacbee, 4 May 2018 Prada clothing, meanwhile, looks backward and forward at the same time, quavering between retro and 21st-century originality. Brad Dunning, GQ, 28 Mar. 2018 Elizabeth Drumm, the head of the programme, made some introductory remarks, her voice quavering.The Economist, 7 Sep. 2017 Mrs. Obama said in a 25-minute speech here during which her voice at times quavered with emotion. Julie Hirschfeld Davis, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2016 Like O’Toole, David’s voice is quavering cut glass but his body seems ravaged by time and exposure. Josephine Livingstone, New Republic, 23 May 2017
Noun
Recently, the mayor has had a tickle in her throat that sometimes swells to a quaver in her voice, cutting her off prematurely in conversations and news conferences. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Jan. 2022 There was a quaver in his voice, which defined the depth of his emotion. Katie Hafner, Scientific American, 23 Dec. 2021 From there, the song plays like an elegy for a persona that no longer fits, Rodrigo singing with a quaver over a steady but reluctant acoustic guitar. Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 21 May 2021 Chasen’s, Trader Vic’s, the damn Derby; the mere mention of even department stores like Bullock’s and the Broadway could bring a tear and a quaver.Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2021 There’s also something oddly comforting about the playful oh-well quaver of his voice. Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2020 Hadreas’s voice quavers, sliding from a falsetto to a low, fifties croon. Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 12 May 2020 Big Thief Big Thief’s main vocalist, Adrianne Lenker, has a voice that’s always a kind of biting quaver. Raisa Bruner, Time, 11 Oct. 2019 His tone and cadence take after the saccharine blather of the great Christian pitchmen of radio and TV, the hucksters who mastered the catch in the throat, the tremulous quaver and gulp, because as every pro knows that’s where the money is. Barton Swaim, WSJ, 27 Sep. 2018 See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English, frequentative of quaven to tremble