oscillate

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“
Then the banners began to oscillate, and soon a regular motion set in Oh!

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. intransitive verb To swing back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm.
  2. intransitive verb 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. intransitive verb Physics To vary between alternate extremes, usually within a definable period of time.
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Examples (50)

  • The shock wave was so violent that the whole picture began to oscillate, echoing the same crazy dance that the KU-8 performed as it was tossed about by the turbulence of the atmosphere. —  Stanislaw Lem - The Invincible
  • His narrow pelvis began to oscillate, pumping his buttocks back into my hand, and then grinding his slowly growing penis into my thigh. —  XXXX
  • Thus our four conditions together are adequate to explain the outstanding features of our actual experience; ž namely, that we oscillate, avoiding the gravest extremes of fluctuation in employment and in prices in both directions, round an intermediate position appreciably below full employment and appreciably above the minimum employment a decline below which would endanger life. —  The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money: Project Gutenberg Australia
  • From recent measurements with the SNO and Super-K neutrino detectors, we now know that a neutrino of a given flavor can "oscillate" into other flavors as it travels some distance. —  AnalogSFF,October2005
  • I quickly realized I had one fewer hand than necessary to pump, oscillate, and keep the contraption from falling off. —  Fleshbot
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Used in the same contextWord Family

oscillate:   oscillated ·  oscillating
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin ōscillāre, ōscillāt-, from ōscillum, swing, probably from ōscillum, small mask of Bacchus, diminutive of ōs, mouth; see ōs- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin oscillatus, past participle of oscillare (later Italian oscillare = Portuguese oscillar = Spanish oscilar = French osciller), 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: see os.
 

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/ˈɑsɪleɪt/
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