PALPITATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does palpitate mean? 

• PALPITATE (verb)
  The verb PALPITATE has 3 senses:

1. cause to throb or beat rapidly

2. shake with fast, tremulous movements

3. beat rapidly

  Familiarity information: PALPITATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PALPITATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they palpitate    ... he / she / it palpitates   
Past simple: palpitated   
Past participle: palpitated   
-ing form: palpitating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to throb or beat rapidly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

Her violent feelings palpitated the young woman's heart

Hypernyms (to "palpitate" is one way to...):

agitate; shake (move or cause to move back and forth)

Verb group:

flutter; palpitate (beat rapidly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

palpitant (having a slight and rapid trembling motion)

palpitation (a rapid and irregular heart beat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Shake with fast, tremulous movements

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

palpitate; quake; quiver

Context example:

His nostrils palpitated

Hypernyms (to "palpitate" is one way to...):

tremble (move or jerk quickly and involuntarily up and down or sideways)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

palpitant (having a slight and rapid trembling motion)

palpitation (a shaky motion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Beat rapidly

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

flutter; palpitate

Context example:

His heart palpitated

Hypernyms (to "palpitate" is one way to...):

beat; pound; thump (move rhythmically)

Verb group:

palpitate (cause to throb or beat rapidly)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

palpitant (having a slight and rapid trembling motion)

palpitation (a rapid and irregular heart beat)

 Context examples 

I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear, and I hurried on with irregular steps, not daring to look about me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He waved his hand to the sofa, and our palpitating visitor with his agitated companion sat side by side upon it.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Everybody was satisfied; and she was left to the tremors of a most palpitating heart, while the others prepared to begin.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

At such times she cocked both triggers of the gun, prepared to meet him with leaden death if he should burst loose, herself trembling and palpitating and dizzy from the tension and shock.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Into this shop, which was low and small, and which was darkened rather than lighted by a little window, overhung with clothes, and was descended into by some steps, I went with a palpitating heart; which was not relieved when an ugly old man, with the lower part of his face all covered with a stubbly grey beard, rushed out of a dirty den behind it, and seized me by the hair of my head.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The sand-banks far out were spotted with uncouth crawling forms, huge turtles, strange saurians, and one great flat creature like a writhing, palpitating mat of black greasy leather, which flopped its way slowly to the lake.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As it opened there came a tumultuous rush into the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and an instant later a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, disheveled, and palpitating, burst into the room.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Every thought that was devoted to it was an extreme anguish, and every word that I spoke in allusion to it caused my lips to quiver, and my heart to palpitate.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)