Tremulated

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Shook or vibrated with a fine, quivering motion, like something trembling slightly
2. Moved with a rapid, delicate shaking or oscillating quality throughout
3. Exhibited a subtle, continuous trembling or quivering effect

Etymology: "Tremulated" is the past tense and past participle of "tremulate," which means to tremble or quiver. The verb is a back-formation: it was created by stripping an ending from the older noun "tremulation," not by building up from a root. English speakers had "tremulation," a noun for trembling, and later reasoned backwards from it to produce a verb, much as "edit" was made from "editor" or "burgle" from "burglar." The noun "tremulation" itself comes from Latin "tremulus," meaning "trembling" or "quivering," a diminutive-style adjective built on "tremere," "to tremble." The same Latin stem gave English "tremble" (through Old French "trembler"), so "tremulate" and "tremble" are cousins that arrived by different routes. The "-ulate" ending is a familiar Latin-derived pattern, which is why the newer verb sounds more learned than its everyday relative.

Synonyms: tremble, quiver, quaver, shake, vibrate