waver

Plural: wavers

Noun

someone who communicates by waving
the act of pausing uncertainly
the act of moving back and forth
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.
One who waves their arms, or causes something to swing or wave.
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”).
A sapling or other young tree left standing when other trees around it have been felled.

Verb

Verb Forms: wavered, wavering, wavers

To move unsteadily; to show indecision.
pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness
be unsure or weak
move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern
move back and forth very rapidly
sway to and fro
give off unsteady sounds, alternating in amplitude or frequency
To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
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.
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.
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).

Examples

Despite all the terrible things that happened to her, she never wavered from her beliefs.
Flowers wavered in the breeze.
His voice wavered when the reporter brought up the controversial topic.
I felt encouraged by all the enthusiastic wavers in the crowd.
Johnny is such a little waver; everyone who passes by receives his preferred greeting.
My resolve did not WAVER even as my opponent played a bingo.
The Fourth of July brings out all the flag wavers.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Synonyms

falter, faltering, flicker, flitter, fluctuate, flutter, hesitate, hesitation, quaver, quiver, vacillate, waffle, weave, waverer

Scrabble Score: 11

waver: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
waver: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
waver: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

waver: valid Words With Friends Word