fluttering has definitions from the field of physics
1
[ adjective ] streaming or flapping or spreading wide as if in a current of air

Examples

"ran quickly, her flaring coat behind her" "a fluttering scarf" "flying banners" "flags waving in the breeze"

Used in print

(Octavia Waldo, A Cup of the Sun....)

Its form was a heavy figure in a fluttering soutane .

Related terms

moving

2
[ adjective ] moving rapidly and lightly to and fro as of or with wings

Synonyms

flittering

Examples

"fluttering birds" "the flittering wings of a fledgling"

Used in print

(Christopher Davis, First Family....)

His hands , which had been as quick as a pair of fluttering birds , were now neither active nor really relaxed .

Related terms

moving

3
[ adjective ] having a slight and rapid trembling motion

Examples

"a fluttering heartbeat" "palpitant movements rather than violent eruptions" "my palpitating heart"

Related terms

unsteady

4
[ noun ] (physics) the motion made by flapping up and down

Related terms

wave undulate flicker flap beat

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