wobble

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɒbəl

Noun

wobble (plural wobbles)

1. An unsteady motion.

   The fat man walked down the street with a wobble.

   • 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, BBC Sport:

     That should have been that, but Hart caught a dose of the Hennessey wobbles and spilled Adlene Guedioura's long-range shot.

2. A tremulous sound.

   There was a wobble on her high notes.

3. (music) A low-frequency oscillation sometimes used in dubstep

Synonyms

• (unsteady motion): jiggle, quiver, shake, tremble
• (tremulous sound): quaver, tremble, tremolo, vibrato

Translations

unsteady motion

• Finnish: vaappuminen, huojunta, horjunta
• French: vacillement (fr) m
• Japanese: フラフラ (furafura), ブラブラ (burabura)

• Russian: шатание (ru) (šatánjije) n, качание (ru) (kačánije) n, колебание (ru) (kolebánije) n
• Swedish: vingla

tremulous sound

• Japanese: 震え (furue)

• Russian: дрожание (ru) (drožánije) n

Verb

wobble (third-person singular simple present wobbles, present participle wobbling, simple past and past participle wobbled)

1. (intransitive) To move with an uneven or rocking motion, or unsteadily to and fro.

   The Earth wobbles slowly on its axis .

   The jelly wobbled on the plate.

2. (intransitive) To tremble or quaver.

   The soprano's voice wobbled alarmingly.

3. (intransitive) To vacillate in one's opinions.

   I'm wobbling between the Liberals and the Greens.

4. (transitive) To cause to wobble.

   The boy wobbled the girl's bike.

Synonyms

• (move with an uneven or rocking motion): judder, shake, shudder, tremble
• (quaver): quaver, quiver, tremble
• (vacillate): falter, vacillate, waffle, waver
• (cause to wobble): jiggle, rock, shake, wiggle

Derived terms

• wobbler
• wobbly

Translations

move with an uneven or rocking motion

• Dutch: wiebelen (nl), wankelen (nl)
• Finnish: vaappua (fi), horjua (fi), huojua (fi)
• French: osciller (fr), branler (fr), vaciller (fr)

• Japanese: ブラブラする (burabura-suru), 震える (furueru), ぶれる (bureru)
• Russian: вилять (ru) (viljátʹ) impf., вихлять (ru) (vixljátʹ) impf., идти шатаясь (ru) (idtí šatájasʹ) impf.

quaver

• Finnish: väristä (fi)
• Japanese: 震える (furueru)

• Russian: качаться (ru) (kačátʹsja) impf., шататься (ru) (šatátʹsja) impf.

vacillate

• Finnish: olla kahden vaiheilla
• French: vaciller (fr)

• Japanese: ブラブラする (burabura-suru), ぶれる (bureru)
• Russian: колебаться (ru) (kolebátʹsja) impf.

cause to wobble

• Dutch: wiebelen (nl)
• Japanese: ブラブラさせる (burabura-saseru), 揺らす (yurasu)

• Russian: качать (ru) (kačátʹ) impf., раскачивать (ru) (raskáčivatʹ) impf., шатать (ru) (šatátʹ) impf.