# waver

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈweɪvə/ · frequency rank #39,643

## Definitions
1. To swing or wave, especially in the air, wind, etc.; to flutter.
2. To move without purpose or a specified destination; to roam, to wander.
3. To sway back and forth, as if about to fall; to reel, to stagger, to totter.
4. To begin to weaken or show signs of weakening in resolve; to falter, to flinch, to give way.
5. To feel or show doubt or indecision; to be indecisive between choices; to vacillate.
6. Of a body part such as an eye or hand, or the voice: to become unsteady; to shake, to tremble.
7. Of light, shadow, or a partly obscured thing: to flicker, to glimmer, to quiver.
8. Chiefly of a quality or thing: to change, to fluctuate, to vary.
9. Followed by from: to deviate from a course; to stray, to wander.
10. Of the wits: to become confused or unsteady; to reel.
11. To cause (someone or something) to move back and forth.
12. To cause (someone) to begin to or show signs of weakening in resolve; also (rare), to weaken in resolve due to (something).

## Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English waveren (“to move back and forth, swing; to move unsteadily, totter; to shake, tremble; to wander; (figurative) to be changeable or unstable; to deviate”), and then possibly:
* from Old English (compare Old English wǣfre (“flickering, quivering, wavering; active, nimble (?)”)), related to Old English wafian (“to wave”) from Proto-West Germanic *wabbjan (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”), from Proto-Germanic *wabjaną (“to cause to weave; to entangle; to wrap”); and/or
* from Old Norse vafra (“to move unsteadily, flicker”), probably related to vefa (“to weave”);
both from Proto-Germanic *webaną (“to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”). Doublet of wave.
The noun is derived from the verb.

## Easily confused with
- **wer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wer)
- **wavy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wavy)
- **wove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wove)
- **waves** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-waves)
- **wider** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wider)
- **wives** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wives)
- **weber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-weber)
- **woven** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-woven)
- **weave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-weave)
- **wiser** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wiser)
- **waxed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-waxed)
- **wiper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wiper)
- **weaker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-weaker)
- **weaver** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-weaver)
- **wearer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-wearer)
- **Waverly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/waver-vs-waverly)
- **war** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/war-vs-waver)
- **WAV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wav-vs-waver)
- **wake** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wake-vs-waver)
- **wave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wave-vs-waver)

## Common misspellings (7)
`awver`, `waevr`, `waverr`, `wavre`, `wavver`, `wvaer`, `wwaver`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/waver