vacillate

From Latin vacillātum, supine form of vacillō (“sway, waver”).

Compare oscillate

• IPA^(key): /ˈvæ.sə.leɪt/, /ˈvæ.sɪ.leɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

vacillate (third-person singular simple present vacillates, present participle vacillating, simple past and past participle vacillated)

1. (intransitive) To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate.
   • 1910: Jack London, The Heathen

     Its [the barometer's] normal register in the Paumotus [the Tuamotus] was 29.90, and it was quite customary to see it vacillate between 29.85 and 30.00, or even 30.05; [...]

2. (intransitive) To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
   • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     On the streets of Berlin, Ruth and her compatriots vacillated "between hope and despair."

• (to sway from one side to the other): stagger
• (to swing indecisively): blow hot and cold, waffle

• vacillant
• vacillating
• vacillation
• vacillator
• vacillatory

• vacillate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• vacillate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• vacillate at OneLook Dictionary Search

• cavatelli, laticlave

vacillate

1. second-person plural present indicative of vacillare
2. second-person plural imperative of vacillare
3. feminine plural of vacillato

• cativella, cavillate

vacillāte

1. first-person plural present active imperative of vacillō