Library / English Dictionary

FLUTTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of moving back and forth

Synonyms:

flicker; flutter; waver

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("flutter" is a kind of...):

motility; motion; move; movement (a change of position that does not entail a change of location)

Derivation:

flutter (move back and forth very rapidly)

flutter (move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The motion made by flapping up and down

Synonyms:

flap; flapping; flutter; fluttering

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("flutter" is a kind of...):

undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A disorderly outburst or tumult

Example:

they were amazed by the furious disturbance they had caused

Synonyms:

commotion; disruption; disturbance; flutter; hoo-ha; hoo-hah; hurly burly; kerfuffle; to-do

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("flutter" is a kind of...):

disorder (a disturbance of the peace or of public order)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flutter"):

convulsion; turmoil; upheaval (a violent disturbance)

earthquake (a disturbance that is extremely disruptive)

incident (a public disturbance)

splash; stir (a prominent or sensational but short-lived news event)

storm; tempest (a violent commotion or disturbance)

storm center; storm centre (a center of trouble or disturbance)

garboil; tumult; tumultuousness; uproar (a state of commotion and noise and confusion)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Abnormally rapid beating of the auricles of the heart (especially in a regular rhythm); can result in heart block

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("flutter" is a kind of...):

arrhythmia; cardiac arrhythmia (an abnormal rate of muscle contractions in the heart)

Derivation:

flutter (beat rapidly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wink briefly

Example:

bat one's eyelids

Synonyms:

bat; flutter

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

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

blink; nictate; nictitate; wink (briefly shut the eyes)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move back and forth very rapidly

Example:

the candle flickered

Synonyms:

flicker; flitter; flutter; quiver; waver

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

move back and forth (move in one direction and then into the opposite direction)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

flutter (the act of moving back and forth)

fluttering (the motion made by flapping up and down)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Beat rapidly

Example:

His heart palpitated

Synonyms:

flutter; palpitate

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

beat; pound; thump (move rhythmically)

Verb group:

palpitate (cause to throb or beat rapidly)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

flutter (abnormally rapid beating of the auricles of the heart (especially in a regular rhythm); can result in heart block)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart

Example:

The hummingbird flitted among the branches

Synonyms:

dart; fleet; flit; flutter

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

hurry; speed; travel rapidly; zip (move very fast)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flutter"):

butterfly (flutter like a butterfly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

The crowds flutter in the streets

The streets flutter with crowds

Derivation:

flutter (the act of moving back and forth)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Flap the wings rapidly or fly with flapping movements

Example:

The seagulls fluttered overhead

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

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

beat; flap (move with a thrashing motion)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

Growing from her shoulders were wings, gorgeous in color and so light that they fluttered if the slightest breath of air reached them.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

This can cause: • Palpitations (feelings that your heart is skipping a beat, fluttering, or beating too hard or too fast) • Shortness of breath • Cough • Fatigue, dizziness, or anxiety • Migraine headaches • Chest discomfort

(Mitral Valve Prolapse, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

With what sparkling eyes and ready motion she granted his request, and with how pleasing a flutter of heart she went with him to the set, may be easily imagined.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Hope had already entered; and feeling all its anxious flutter, she bent over her sister to watch—she hardly knew for what.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Fanny was all agitation and flutter; all hope and apprehension.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Poor Harriet was in a flutter of spirits which required all the reasonings and soothings and attentions of every kind that Emma could give.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The contents of this letter threw Elizabeth into a flutter of spirits, in which it was difficult to determine whether pleasure or pain bore the greatest share.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Its strange shawl suddenly unfurled, spread, and fluttered as a pair of leathery wings.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Round his middle was a canary-yellow sash, and dainty little ribbons of the same colour fluttered from the sides of his knees.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the sparrow began to flutter about, and stretch out her neck and cried, “Carter! it shall cost thee thy life yet!”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)