Log in or Sign up
  1. oscillate love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To swing back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm.
  2. v. To waver, as between conflicting opinions or courses of action; vacillate: "The court has oscillated over the decades from more liberal to less, more conservative to less, depending upon who was president at the time of vacancies” ( Gordon J. Humphrey). See Synonyms at swing.
  3. v. Physics To vary between alternate extremes, usually within a definable period of time.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To swing; move backward and forward; vibrate, as a pendulum.
  2. Hence To vary or fluctuate; waver.
  3. Synonyms Vacillate, Waver, etc. See fluctuate.
  4. To cause to swing or move backward and forward; cause to vibrate or swing to and fro.

Wiktionary

  1. v. intransitive To swing back and forth, especially if with a regular rhythm.
  2. v. intransitive To vacillate between conflicting opinions, etc.
  3. v. intransitive To vary above and below a mean value.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To move backward and forward; to vibrate like a pendulum; to swing; to sway.
  2. v. To vary or fluctuate between fixed limits; to act or move in a fickle or fluctuating manner; to change repeatedly, back and forth.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action
  2. v. move or swing from side to side regularly

Etymologies

  1. From Latin oscillatus perfect passive particple of Latin oscillō ("swing"), from oscillum ("a swing"), usually identified with oscillum ("a little face or mask hung to a tree and swaying with the wind"), diminutive of os ("mouth, face"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin ōscillāre, ōscillāt-, from ōscillum, swing, probably from ōscillum, small mask of Bacchus, diminutive of ōs, mouth. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

Show 10 more examples...

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

synonyms (3)

Words with the same meaning

  1. swing
  1. sway
  1. vibrate

same context (21)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. night-scene
  2. 512-bit
  3. half-gloom
  4. layering
  1. fascicle
  2. cloudlet
  3. aureola
  4. chron
  1. pallour
  2. try-catch
  3. discourse
  4. purple-red
  1. vantage-ground
  2. qty
  3. dft-based
  4. wrist-watch
  1. 512-byte
  2. Lucite
  3. half-cut
  4. spy-ray
  1. teakwood

reverse dictionary (22)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. hunt
  2. fluctuate
  3. knife-edge
  4. surge
  1. oscillative
  2. pallet-tail
  3. binodal area
  4. vacillate
  1. oscillating circuit
  2. pitch
  3. monotone
  4. drift
  1. gyrate
  2. swing
  3. vibrate
  4. balance
  1. modulate
  2. swing-back
  3. rocking-link
  4. vibrator
  1. tremble
  2. wag

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘oscillate’.

More lists containing ‘oscillate’

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • 14ShimAlissa my unorthodox personality oscillates au jour le jour Jul 5, 2011

  • bilby Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas! Oct 18, 2008

  • sera to oscillate is to move laterally Aug 13, 2007

Tweets

Looking for tweets for oscillate.

‘oscillate’ has been looked up 3292 times, loved by 6 people, added to 68 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 11.