Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To be unable to choose between different courses of action or opinions; waver.
  • intransitive verb To change between one state and another; fluctuate.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To sway from one side to the other.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To waver; move one way and the other; reel; stagger.
  • To fluctuate in mind or opinion; waver; be irresolute or inconstant.
  • Synonyms and Waver, Oscillate, etc. (see fluctuate), sway.
  • To hesitate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To move one way and the other; to reel or stagger; to waver.
  • intransitive verb To fluctuate in mind or opinion; to be unsteady or inconstant; to waver.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate.
  • verb intransitive To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action
  • verb move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin vacillāre, vacillāt-, to waver.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

Comments

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  • This word feels weak-chinned and sounds like the motion of your hand when you're saying "kinda, maybe, I don't know."

    May 25, 2009