as in to trill
to sing with the alternation of two musical tones know-it-alls snickered as the opera singer quavered on the high note

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Examples of quaver in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The reflections of the icebergs quavered in the water, which was blue to the edge of purple. Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024 Odysseus asks, his voice quavering, revealing his insecurity upon returning home after a 20-year absence. Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Sep. 2024 And so a Vivaldi aria erupts on the soundtrack, and before long Jon opens his mouth and begins to sing, in a lovely, quavering falsetto. Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 June 2024 Johnson read from the Book of James, 2:14, her voice quavering a bit before the crowd. Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 20 Nov. 2023 Her voice quavered recalling women who killed themselves after G.I.s who had taken them as common-law wives subsequently abandoned them and their children. Choe Sang-Hun Jean Chung, New York Times, 2 May 2023 Staticky street sounds from Shuliavka, a neighborhood that endured artillery strikes in the war’s first hours, commingle with quavering loops of electronic vibrations. Jason Farago, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2023 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

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quaver.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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“Quaver.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quaver. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.

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