quaver

There’s usually an anxious quaver in his baritone, and when he raises his voice he reaches a throat-scraping desperation.

From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2022

There was a quaver in his voice, which defined the depth of his emotion.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 23, 2021

Tears sprang to my eyes again, lending a quaver to my voice.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2019

“For more than 12 years I entrusted Stew with my words and my goals and my reputation and he’s never let me down,” McConnell said as his voice began to quaver.

From Fox News ● Mar. 14, 2019

Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville’s voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

The vivid pictures in “Cultivating Imperfection,” the Northern Virginia painter’s Art League show, might be pulsing with sound, light or tectonic quavers.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 24, 2020

“There are things out there,” a character quavers.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 9, 2020

In one particularly musical moment, he expresses planetary motions in musical notation — the orbits of Mercury, Venus and their neighbours spun out into crotchets and quavers.

From Nature ● Mar. 17, 2015

White's version was jumping but respectful; Moon's puts a scratchy guitar line atop juddering drum-machine beats, while he quavers and hollers the vocal line in 50s fashion.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 4, 2013

The light filtering in from above shifts again, and the figure quavers as though she were watching through a heat haze, though Mr. A. H— remains comparatively crisp and clear.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Dressed in a traditional feathered cloak, her voice quavered as she thrust a photo of her mother at the committee.

From BBC ● Dec. 10, 2023

He tried to speak, but his voice quavered.

From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2021

As her voice quavered, I felt a surge of emotion so strong it seemed to paralyze me.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2018

Palm Springs Police Chief Bryan Reyes’ voice quavered at a news conference hours later as he described watching Zerebny’s husband, a Riverside County sheriff's deputy, say goodbye to his wife. 

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2016

Gloria’s voice quavered on the verge of tears, “Where’s Robbie, Mamma?”

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov

What only seems familiar: Powering out of a slow corner with the pedal pinned, the car pulling its guts out, stretching for the redline, revs quavering at the upshifts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

Voice quavering, I told Sam that I was looking for an actual relationship, one that could go somewhere.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2024

“Keep up the fight,” he told the audience in a quavering voice.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024

Staticky street sounds from Shuliavka, a neighborhood that endured artillery strikes in the war’s first hours, commingle with quavering loops of electronic vibrations.

From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2023

It sounded stupid, high and hollow and quavering, a little boy's howl, not a wolf's.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin