Tremulous means trembling or shaking, usually from nervousness, fear, or weakness. When someone speaks in a tremulous voice, you can hear the quiver in their words, like when you're so nervous before a presentation that your voice wavers. An elderly person might walk with tremulous steps, their legs shaky from age or illness.

The word captures that specific kind of shaking that comes from inner feelings rather than cold or other external forces. A student might raise a tremulous hand to answer a difficult question, fingers trembling with uncertainty. A person might smile tremulously after narrowly avoiding danger, relief mixing with leftover fear.

Tremulous often suggests vulnerability or fragility. When an author describes a character's tremulous breathing or tremulous fingers, we understand that person feels exposed or overwhelmed.

You might also see tremulous describe things that seem to shake or flicker, like tremulous candlelight or the tremulous leaves of an aspen tree in a breeze.