Word of the Day: Trepidation

trepidation

trep-i-da-tion / trĕp-ĭ-dā-shən

noun

1. fear; a feeling of dread or anxiety

But the first lie in the series is the one you make with the greatest trepidation and the heaviest heart.

Michael Chabon, 1963 –

2. (archaic) a condition of involuntary trembling or palpitation

They pass the planets sev’n, and pass the fix’d,

And that crystalline sphere whose balance weighs

The trepidation talk’d, and that first-mov’d.

From “Paradise Lost” by John Milton, 1608 – 1674