shakiness

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈʃeɪkinəs/ UK /ˈʃeɪkinəs/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being unsteady, trembling, or insecure

The shakiness of his hands betrayed how nervous he really was.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being... unsteadinesstremulousnessinstabilitywobblinessinsecurity

Opposites

steadiness firmness stability

Word family

Related forms shaky shake

Etymology

From shaky plus -ness; shaky is from shake plus -y, and shake is from Old English sceacan ('to shake, move quickly'), from Proto-Germanic *skakaną.

sceacan Old English *skakaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# shakiness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈʃeɪkinəs
**IPA (UK):** ˈʃeɪkinəs

## Meanings
1. the quality of being unsteady, trembling, or insecure

## Examples
- The shakiness of his hands betrayed how nervous he really was.

## Synonyms
- unsteadiness
- tremulousness
- instability
- wobbliness
- insecurity

## Antonyms
- steadiness
- firmness
- stability

## Related Forms
- shaky
- shake

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sceacan
- Root: *skakaną

## Etymology
From shaky plus -ness; shaky is from shake plus -y, and shake is from Old English sceacan ('to shake, move quickly'), from Proto-Germanic *skakaną.

## AI Etymology
Shakiness comes from shaky plus -ness; shaky is from shake plus -y, and shake is from Old English sceacan ('to shake, move quickly'), from Proto-Germanic *skakaną. The historical chain includes Old English sceacan and Proto-Germanic *skakaną. Older glosses in the chain include "to shake, move quickly", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, shakiness is best read as borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "the quality of being unsteady, trembling, or insecure". related forms include shaky and shake. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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shakiness

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