quake

CEFRB1

/kweɪk/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To shake strongly, especially from fear or an earthquake.

  2. 02

    noun

    An earthquake or strong shaking movement.

Examples

  • At the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, all the reactors stopped just after the quake.

  • Many old buildings were damaged by the quake.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. An earthquake, a trembling of the ground with force.

  2. Something devastating, like a strong earthquake.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A trembling or shaking.

More examples

In context

  • The quake damaged many old buildings.

  • California is plagued by quakes; there are a few minor ones almost every month.

  • I felt the ground quaking beneath my feet.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

During the earthquake, the entire building began to blank violently.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian (“to quake, tremble, chatter”), from Proto-Germanic *kwakōną (“to shake, quiver, tremble”), itself likely of imitative origin. Related to Old English cweċċan (“to shake, swing, move, vibrate, shake off, give up”) (see quitch), Dutch kwakkelen (“to ail, be ailing”), German Quackelei (“chattering”), Danish kvakle (“to bungle”), Latin vexō (“toss, shake violently, jostle, vex”), Irish bogadh (“a move, movement, shift, change”).