Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Shaking; trembling.
  • adjective Undergoing pulsation; pulsating.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Palpitating; pulsating or throbbing visibly; quivering.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Palpitating; throbbing; trembling.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective palpitating, throbbing

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having a slight and rapid trembling motion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin palpitāns, palpitant-, present participle of palpitāre, to palpitate; see palpitate.]

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Examples

  • But love, real love, dewy and palpitant and tender, you do not know.

    The House of Pride and Other Tales of Hawaii:The House of Pride 2010

  • Sensation usurped reason, and he was quivering and palpitant with emotions he had never known, drifting deliciously on a sea of sensibility where feeling itself was exalted and spiritualized and carried beyond the summits of life.

    Chapter 3 2010

  • But over all and through all poured the flame of her -- the unanalyzable something that was fire and that was the soul of her, that lay mellow-warm or blazed in her eyes, that sprayed the cheeks of her, that distended the nostrils, that curled the lip, or, when the lip was in repose, that was still there in the lip, the lip palpitant with its presence.

    The Wit of Porportuk 2010

  • Could you know that your letter with its catalogue of advantages and arrangements must offend me as much as if, belies (let us hope) you and the woman of your love, I would pardon the affront of it upon us all, and ascribe the unseemly want of warmth to reserve or to the sadness which grips the heart when joy is too palpitant.

    The Kempton-Wace Letters 2010

  • Came a beautiful fall day, warm and languid, palpitant with the hush of the changing season, a California Indian summer day, with hazy sun and wandering wisps of breeze that did not stir the slumber of the air.

    Chapter 21 2010

  • It soared upward with a swift rush, till it reached its topmost note, where it persisted, palpitant and tense, and then slowly died away.

    The Trail of Meat 2010

  • And through the swaying, palpitant vision, as through a fairy mirage, he stared at the real woman, sitting there and talking of literature and art.

    Chapter 1 2010

  • Ceci dit je n'ai pas grand chose a dire et meme les jours ou j'ai le net je ne viens pas ici car franchement vous dire combien de saucisses de morteau j'ai vendu dans la journee n'est pas tres palpitant.

    pinku-tk Diary Entry pinku-tk 2009

  • I had come to within a few paces of it, when, suddenly, a peculiar sense of fear thrilled through me — a fear, palpitant and real; whence, I knew not, nor why.

    The House on the Borderland 2007

  • Finalement j'ai fait ma journee comme ca c pas tres palpitant.

    pinku-tk Diary Entry pinku-tk 2006

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