I put only four words in the title, but I know there are more. Right now I remember jerking. I know the difference between shaking and vibration. But I don't have any idea about the usage of others. It seems their meaning is almost the same but their usage is different. I heard tremor a few times when someone described a earthquake.
So could anyone explain the difference with examples?
They paused as they felt the slight tremor and just had time to glance at each other before the room shook so violently that he lost his balance and furniture started to fall. It was over as quickly as it had started. She was huddled on the floor trembling with fear. "Are you ok" he asked, "Try to calm down and I'll get you a drink." As he took the orange juice bottle from the upended refrigerator an started to pour, he laughed. "It says 'shake well before using' but somehow I don't think I'll need to today." He shivered as he realized just how close they had come to being under that 'fridge. Better not mention that right now.
The short answer is that shake is the generic term for short movements up and down or to and fro. Shiver is the kind of shaking you do when you are cold; and tremble is the kind of shaking you do when you are afraid or anxious about something
Tremor is a noun and usually refers to the shaking of the earth during an earthquake or the shaking of the body during sickness.
You left out rattle and roll.
Here is my take on their distinctions:
shake - First, its a verb. I can be doen to someone or done to oneself. It generally is a willed act, even if it's not a welcome one (meaning some agent is involved).
tremor - A noun, usually describing a subtle but steady "shaking", usually involuntary, often pathological (meaning a symptom of something).
shiver - Very similar to tremor but less acute (usually the whole body or at least a good half shivers). Still involuntary, though there can be an identifiable cause (cold weather, fear, bad thoughts). Usually goes away either as fast as it came on, or if due to strong source, when that source is gone.
tremble - Could be the same as a shiver or a tremor, but if it's distinct, usually describes a shaking or unsteadiness caused by lack of power. You could be trembling when you stand up due to muscle weakness, or you could be trembling at the feet of a king because you are weak with humility, etc.
Overall, the finer points of the words are going to be cause, locality (part of the body) voluntariness, duration, and severity.
In vibration, each wave is having a predictable correlation with the next wave. In a tremor, this is not a binding condition. The wave following the current wave may be larger, smaller, of different shape, amplitude or frequency. The movement is generally oscillatory in vibration but may be chaotic in a tremor.
