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Jitter vs Flicker - What's the difference?

jitter | flicker |

In intransitive terms the difference between jitter and flicker

is that jitter is to be nervous while flicker is to keep going on and off; to appear and disappear for short moments; to flutter.

jitter

English

Etymology 1

Possibly alteration of

Noun

(en noun)
  • A nervous action; a tic.
  • A state of nervousness.
  • That creepy movie gave me the jitters .
  • * 2014 , Ian Black, " Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
  • It is a sunny morning in Amman and the three uniformed judges in Jordan’s state security court are briskly working their way through a pile of slim grey folders on the bench before them. Each details the charges against 25 or so defendants accused of supporting the fighters of the Islamic State (Isis), now rampaging across Syria and Iraq under their sinister black banners and sending nervous jitters across the Arab world.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2010 , date=December 29 , author=Chris Whyatt , title=Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=But Bolton deserve real credit, seeking to take advantage of their jitters at every opportunity in typically determined fashion.}}
  • (telecommunications) An abrupt and unwanted variation of one or more signal characteristics.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be nervous.
  • Synonyms
    * fidget

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing) A program or routine that performs jitting.
  • Anagrams

    *

    flicker

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unsteady flash of light.
  • A short moment.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=8 citation , passage=It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.}}

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To burn or shine unsteadily. To burn or shine with a wavering light.
  • * (1809-1892)
  • *:The shadows flicker to and fro.
  • *
  • *:Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze. When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals,.
  • (lb) To keep going on and off; to appear and disappear for short moments; to flutter.
  • *1898 , , (Moonfleet), Ch.3:
  • *:There I lay on one side with a thin and rotten plank between the dead man and me, dazed with the blow to my head, and breathing hard; while the glow of torches as they came down the passage reddened and flickered on the roof above.
  • *1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
  • *:The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles, shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plates on the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight flickered and played over everything without distinction.
  • To flutter; to flap the wings without flying.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:And flickering on her nest made short essays to sing.
  • Etymology 2

    1808, American English, probably echoic of the bird's call, or from the white spotted plumage which appears to flicker.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (US) A certain type of small woodpecker, especially of the genus Colaptes
  • See also
    * (wikipedia "flicker")

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who flicks.
  • Derived terms
    * bean flicker