SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
waver
verb
To hesitate between choices or lose steadiness in a position or commitment.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Lose steadiness or hesitate
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topWaver may be a brief hesitation or weakening commitment. Vacillate suggests repeated shifts, while dither and waffle are informal and often critical.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See waver in use
She began to waver when the second proposal offered a clearer budget.
Meanwhile, the chair began to waver in her support for the agreed deadline as she listened to increasingly anxious objections.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
- WAVER Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
- Princeton WordNet 3.0: wn30-v-01901289, wn30-v-02640440, wn30-v-02740204
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license