Trepidation1. (n.) A state of terror or alarm; fear; confusion; fright; as, the men were in great trepidation.
2. (n.) An involuntary trembling, sometimes an effect of paralysis, but usually caused by terror or fear; quaking; quivering.
3. (n.) A libration of the starry sphere in the Ptolemaic system; a motion ascribed to the firmament, to account for certain small changes in the position of the ecliptic and of the stars.
Thesaurus Entries
agitation, alarm, apprehensiveness, attack of nerves, bluster, bobbery, boil, boiling, brouhaha, buck fever, bustle, case of nerves, chills of fear, churn, cold creeps, cold shivers, cold sweat, commotion, consternation, conturbation, creeps, didder, discomposure, dismay, disorder, disquiet, disquietude, disturbance, dithers, dread, ebullition, embroilment, excessive irritability, excitement, fear, fear and trembling, ferment, fermentation, fever, feverishness, fidgetiness, fidgets, flap, flurry, fluster, flutter, flutteration, foment, fright, fume, fuss, goose bumps, gooseflesh, heartquake, heaving, horripilation, horror, hubbub, hurly-burly, inquietude, jimjams, jitters, jumpiness, maelstrom, malaise, moil, morbid excitability, nerves, nerviness, nervosity, nervous stomach, nervousness, palpitation, panic, panickiness, panting, perturbation, pitapat, pitter-patter, quaking, quaver, quavering, quiver, quiver of terror, quivering, restlessness, roil, rout, row, seethe, seething, shakes, shaking, shiver, shivers, shudder, spell of nerves, stage fright, state of nerves, stir, sweat, swirl, terror, thrill of fear, throb, throbbing, tic, to-do, tremble, trembling, tremor, trepidity, tumult, tumultuation, turbidity, turbulence, turmoil, twitching, twitter, unease, uneasiness, unrest, upset, vellication