There are a good many ways to convey emotions. Any and all of the tropes about tears and crying, the wide variety of smile tropes, and all manner of fidgeting or nervous tics.
Among these is the Quivering Lip.
When a character is sad, but not yet crying, they might telegraph that tears are eminent with a slight tremor in the lip. At this point, there is still a chance to stave off the tears, but efforts to do so are just as likely to fail, which could result in Inelegant Blubbering or Running Away to Cry.
A Quivering Lip might be part of the arsenal of someone who will Resort to Pouting, making their protruding lower lip tremble a bit as a form of emotional extortion, e.g. "give me what I want or I will cry". It could also be the result of someone trying to hold in their emotions.
Exceptionally masculine characters might allow a lip quiver as the only sign that they're sad, and also this might also carry over to anyone, regardless of gender, in societies that believe in a Stiff Upper Lip. It may also be a prelude to Manly Tears.
Frequently overlaps with, and comparable to Quivering Eyes, which usually indicate tears are now forming.
If an adult does this as part of a manipulation tactic, it is an indicator that they could be a Manchild or Womanchild.
In anime, where lips aren't always shown in detail, it can be represented by drawing the mouth as a quivering line.
Sometimes a character might exploit this through a Wounded Gazelle Gambit (typically through Crocodile Tears). A character might also do this as they're trying to hold back their tears.
Contrast Coquettish Lip Biting, where a person bites their lip to show interest or arousal.
Compare Puppy-Dog Eyes and Inelegant Blubbering.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- The Demon Girl Next Door: Yuko is summoned to a meeting with Lilith in her dreamscape, and Lilith tears into her about how pathetic she is, and then, when Yuko's lip begins to tremble, yells at her, "Don't cry!"
- Photon: Between Aun and Keyne feuding with each other, and Large Ham Papacharino wrecking the meals, poor hungry Photon doesn't get one bite to eat across two days' time. He gets Ocular Gushers and an oscillating lower lip as his meal gets spilled to the ground every time. Photon is even willing to eat the dirty food, but the women forbid it.
- Smile PreCure!:
- Yayoi's lip briefly wobbles as her eyes well up with Tears of Joy after Miyuki and Akane say she's cool.
- In the series finale, after Candy is sent back to Märchenland, Miyuki's lip quivers and then she breaks down in Inelegant Blubbering, as do all the other girls.
Fan Works
- In the Gullfriend31 fanfic Farther's Day
(a Doki Doki Pre Cure story), Sharuru's lip wobbles when she sees Lance and his fathers together, which reminds her of her Disappeared Dad. She then begins to sob.
Films — Animated
- The Emperor's New Groove:
- Kuzco does this when he finds himself in llama form, coupling it with Quivering Eyes and a pathetic "mimimimi" whine.
- When Yzma insults Kronk's spinach puffs, you can see his lips tremble as he struggles not to cry.
- The Little Mermaid (1989): Ariel does this when her father King Triton reprimands her for going to the surface, then swims away before he can see her cry.
- The Swan Princess: Queen Uberta organizes a fete of many nations to gather princesses for her son Prince Derek to woo. Derek sees through this and chafes at another of his mother's "meet market" socials. Disappointed that her efforts will be for naught, Queen Uberta attempts to guilt-trip Derek into compliance, beginning with a weeping feint that begins with a quivering lower lip. Derek deftly counters this ploy.
Derek: No, Ma, not that. Not the lip thing.
Literature
- Daisy: In "Eat Your Peas!", Daisy's mother, despite yelling at her daughter to eat her peas, refuses to eat her Brussel's sprouts, to the point that it says that "her bottom lip began to wobble" when Daisy tells her to eat them.
- Sherlock Holmes, in "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", is able to break in on Watson's thoughts in part because of Watson's quivering lips and Wistful Smile.
Holmes: Your hand stole towards your own old wound and a smile quivered on your lips, which showed me that the ridiculous side of this method of settling international questions had forced itself upon your mind.
Live Action TV
- Blackadder Goes Forth: When Lt. George hears that Edmund may have been captured behind enemy lines and killed, he asks General Melchett for permission to let his lip wobble.
- Community: In the season 1 episode English as a Second Language, Jeff points out that Annie's lip will quiver when she's attempting to influence others.
- Yellowjackets: Shauna's daughter Callie went out with "Jay", who turns out to be an undercover detective named Matt trying to get information about Shauna. In "It Chooses", Matt arrives at Callie's home with a search warrant. As he searches her bedroom, she records him and she threatens to accuse him of taking advantage of her during his investigation, complete with strategic lip trembling.
Callie: All a jury needs to hear is how you, an old-ass man, seduced me, a teenage girl. (Matt moves from searching the dresser to the closet) How you... (lip quivering) preyed on a child.
Western Animation
- The Amazing World of Gumball: In "The Advice", Mr. Small desperately asks the kids if they thought his advice was good. Gumball and Darwin look at each other, then back at him, as his lip quivers and his eyes are full of tears.
- Arthur's Perfect Christmas: When DW gets a plush toy of Quackers for Christmas instead of Tina the Talking Tabby, she says she's fine, and then her lip quivers before she starts bawling about how it's not the kind of gift she wanted.
- Dora the Explorer: Swiper's lower lip begins to quiver in "A Christmas Carol" when he fails and doesn't get a gift. In that same episode, a younger version of Isa also gets a quivering lip when Swiper steals the kids' belongings.
- In the early version of Johnny Test, the titular character would use this method to guilt trip his parents into buying him what he wants.
- Kid vs. Kat: Millie the Spoiled Brat often wobbles her lip before wailing and screaming if she can't get what she wants.
- Littlest Pet Shop (2012): In "Terriers & Tiaras", Zoe invokes this trope by quivering her lip and giving Puppy-Dog Eyes to convince Blythe to take her to the titular pageant.
- The Loud House:
- In "Save the Date", Lori's distraught over Bobby leaving her, complete with rivers of mascara running down her face. Her lip briefly wobbles right before she reveals this to Lincoln.
- Lily once invokes this in "Cover Girls"; her mouth wobbles before she starts fake-crying to distract Rita and Lynn Sr.
- In "Yes Man", Lily holds up a poster of a teddy bear she's been wanting and then her mouth wobbles before she starts wailing loudly enough for her parents to give in.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In "A Dog and Pony Show", Rarity, kidnapped by the Diamond Dogs, begins to quiver her lower lip when one of the Diamond Dogs slaps her on the rump and calls her a "mule", right before she moves to Inelegant Blubbering. Of course, for Rarity, it's all an act, and you should Pity The Kidnappers.
- In "Baby Cakes", when Pinkie ends up overwhelmed by the Cake twins' shenanigans, her lip briefly wobbles and then she bursts into Ocular Gushers.
- The Powerpuff Girls (1998):
- Bubbles, being Prone to Tears, has gotten a quivering lip on various occasions. A few examples include when Ima Goodladynote steals Octi from her in "Mommy Fearest", right before her Inelegant Blubbering breakdown in "All Chalked Up" after Buttercup stomps on her chalk collection, and when Hal Larious steals her trophy in "The City of Frownsville".
- In "Bought and Scold", the Powerpuff Girls have no idea what to do after Princess has made crime legal. Buttercup's lip quivers as she's Trying Not to Cry.
- In "The Boys Are Back in Town", after the Rowdyruff Boys become giants and are more powerful than the Powerpuff Girls as a result, all three girls have quivering lips due to panic, though they don't cry.
- The Powerpuff Girls (2016): In "Power-Up Puff", Blossom's lip quivers when Buttercup hurts her feelings by saying that she might never get any new powers.
- SpongeBob SquarePants: In "The Inmates of Summer", SpongeBob is about to go to summer camp and Patrick is sad to see him leave. They briefly have wobbling lips right before they hug each other, bawling Ocular Gushers.
Real Life
- Emily Watson has made use of a quivering lip as a Character Tic in her acting repertoire.
- One of the extras for Doctor Who's "A Christmas Carol" is an orchestral performance of the music for the series at the London Proms. Several of the children in the audience can be seen with quivering lips as actors and actresses dressed as the monsters from the show (Judoon, Silurians, Vampire Girls, and Cybermen) begin to make their way through the crowds.
