waver.
To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
Meaning & usage
To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
Flowers wavered in the breeze.
To move without purpose or a specified destination; to roam, to wander.
To sway back and forth, as if about to fall; to reel, to stagger, to totter.
To begin to weaken or show signs of weakening in resolve; to falter, to flinch, to give way.
Despite all the terrible things that happened to her, she never wavered from her beliefs.
To feel or show doubt or indecision; to be indecisive between choices; to vacillate.
Of a body part such as an eye or hand, or the voice: to become unsteady; to shake, to tremble.
His voice wavered when the reporter brought up the controversial topic.
Of light, shadow, or a partly obscured thing: to flicker, to glimmer, to quiver.
Chiefly of a quality or thing: to change, to fluctuate, to vary.
Followed by from: to deviate from a course; to stray, to wander.
Of the wits: to become confused or unsteady; to reel.
To cause (someone or something) to move back and forth.
To cause (someone) to begin to or show signs of weakening in resolve; also (rare), to weaken in resolve due to (something).
Where this word comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English waveren (“to move back and forth, swing; to move unsteadily, totter; to shake, tremble; to wander; (figurative) to be changeable or unstable; to deviate”), and then possibly: * from Old English (compare Old English wǣfre (“flickering, quivering, wavering; active, nimble (?)”)), related to Old English wafian (“to wave”) from Proto-West Germanic *wabbjan (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”), from Proto-Germanic *wabjaną (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”); and/or * from Old Norse vafra (“to move unsteadily, flicker”), probably related to vefa (“to weave”); both from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Doublet of wave. The noun is derived from the verb.
An act of moving back and forth, swinging, or waving; a flutter, a tremble.
A state of beginning to weaken or showing signs of weakening in resolve; a falter.
A state of feeling or showing doubt or indecision; a vacillation.
Where this word comes from
The verb is derived from Middle English waveren (“to move back and forth, swing; to move unsteadily, totter; to shake, tremble; to wander; (figurative) to be changeable or unstable; to deviate”), and then possibly: * from Old English (compare Old English wǣfre (“flickering, quivering, wavering; active, nimble (?)”)), related to Old English wafian (“to wave”) from Proto-West Germanic *wabbjan (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”), from Proto-Germanic *wabjaną (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”); and/or * from Old Norse vafra (“to move unsteadily, flicker”), probably related to vefa (“to weave”); both from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Doublet of wave. The noun is derived from the verb.
One who waves their arms, or causes something to swing or wave.
I felt encouraged by all the enthusiastic wavers in the crowd.
The Fourth of July brings out all the flag wavers.
A person who specializes in treating hair to make it wavy.
A tool used to make hair wavy.
In full waver roller: a roller which places ink on the inking table of a printing press with a back and forth, waving motion.
Synonym of waverer (“one who feels or shows doubt or indecision; a vacillator”).
Where this word comes from
From wave (verb) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
A sapling or other young tree left standing when other trees around it have been felled.
Where this word comes from
Origin uncertain, possibly from waive (“(obsolete) to disregard, overlook”). According to the Oxford English Dictionary the early forms waiver, wayver, weaver indicate that the word is probably not derived from wave (verb).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.