Library / English Dictionary

SHUDDER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An involuntary vibration (as if from illness or fear)

Synonyms:

shudder; tremor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("shudder" is a kind of...):

quiver; quivering; vibration (the act of vibrating)

Derivation:

shudder (shake, as from cold)

shudder (tremble convulsively, as from fear or excitement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An almost pleasurable sensation of fright

Example:

a frisson of surprise shot through him

Synonyms:

chill; frisson; quiver; shiver; shudder; thrill; tingle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("shudder" is a kind of...):

fear; fearfulness; fright (an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight))

Derivation:

shuddery (provoking fear terror)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shake, as from cold

Example:

The children are shivering--turn on the heat!

Synonyms:

shiver; shudder

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "shudder" is one way to...):

move involuntarily; move reflexively (move in an uncontrolled manner)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

shudder (an involuntary vibration (as if from illness or fear))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Tremble convulsively, as from fear or excitement

Synonyms:

shiver; shudder; thrill; throb

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "shudder" is one way to...):

tremble (move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

shudder (an involuntary vibration (as if from illness or fear))

Credits

 Context examples: 

I was smoking, and trying to suppress a rising tendency to shudder.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“He were an ugly devil,” cried a third pirate with a shudder; “that blue in the face too!”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Anne could just acknowledge within herself such a possibility of having been induced to marry him, as made her shudder at the idea of the misery which must have followed.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

She shuddered and buried her face in her hands.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ruth shuddered and clung close to her mother.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He desired to see no more; and gave me leave to put on my clothes again, for I was shuddering with cold.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She had snarled as she sprang away, baring her white fangs to their roots, all her wistfulness vanishing, being replaced by a carnivorous malignity that made him shudder.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Ah, you shrink, you shudder!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Elinor was employed in walking thoughtfully from the fire to the window, from the window to the fire, without knowing that she received warmth from one, or discerning objects through the other; and Marianne, seated at the foot of the bed, with her head leaning against one of its posts, again took up Willoughby's letter, and, after shuddering over every sentence, exclaimed—It is too much!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)