trepidate

T1R1E1P3I1D2A1T1E1

verb

To cause to experience trepidation.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

verbtrepidate (third-person singular simple present trepidates, present participle trepidating, simple past and past participle trepidated)

present singular third person trepidates · participle present trepidating · participle past trepidated · past trepidated

  1. transitiveuncommonTo cause to experience trepidation.

    […] “A little trepidated, if not consternated, they lifted him from his close confinement and put him to bed.”

    1878, a Memphis newspaper, quoted in 2015, John H. Ellis, Yellow Fever and Public Health in the New South, University Press of Kentucky, page 51
    1 more example

    If so, he was now deeply trepidated. He had almost hoped she would not live up to expectations. She might have lost her looks, acquired irritating habits, even proved to be unpleasant. But here she was, still beautiful and charming.

    2016, Debby Holt, The Soulmate, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN
  2. intransitiveuncommonTo experience trepidation.

    I trepidated that evening upon entering their apartment; his wife, we were told, was from that other world, and no one briefed us as to how she would show.

    2007, Jack Womack, Elvissey: A Novel, Grove/Atlantic, Inc., →ISBN
    1 more example

    It sounded rather appalling to be engaged in a glee for three voices, with two performers such as these; and I trepidated a little as I went up stairs, having previously understood that the great man was already come.

    1876, Thomas De Quincey, The Autobiography of an English Opium-Eater, page 40

Origin

Either back-formed from, or otherwise related to, trepidation.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

trepidate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trepidate

MLA

“trepidate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trepidate. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “trepidate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trepidate.

Source: trepidate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.