undulate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to move with a sinuous or wavelike motion; display a smooth rising-and-falling or side-to-side alternation of movement.
The flag undulates in the breeze.
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to have a wavy form or surface; bend with successive curves in alternate directions.
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(of a sound) to rise and fall in pitch.
the wail of a siren undulating in the distance.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to move in waves.
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to give a wavy form to.
adjective
verb
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to move or cause to move in waves or as if in waves
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to have or provide with a wavy form or appearance
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have undulatedperfect
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has undulatedperfect 3rd person singular
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are undulatingprogressive
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am undulatingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been undulatingperfect progressive
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has been undulatingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is undulatingprogressive 3rd person singular
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undulatessingular 3rd person
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undulatingparticiple
Past
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had undulatedperfect
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were undulatingprogressive plural
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was undulatingprogressive singular
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had been undulatingperfect progressive
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undulatedparticiple
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undulatedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of undulate
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin undulātus waved, equivalent to und(a) “wave” + -ul(a) -ule + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Undulate means to move in a wave-like pattern. If a sound increases and decreases in pitch or volume like waves, you can say the sound is undulating. When searching for the lost boy, the rescuers' cries undulated through the forest. The verb undulate comes from the Latin word undula, which means "wavelet" (unda means "wave"). So any action shown with the verb undulate has that waving sense to it. If something moves in a wavy, pattern, for example, it is said to undulate. The wind might cause prairie grass to undulate, or music might cause hips to undulate.
Vocabulary lists containing undulate
To Kill a Mockingbird
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List 4
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The Pearl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Undulate, un′dū-lāt, v.t. to wave, or to move like waves: to cause to vibrate.—v.i. to wave: to vibrate.—adj. wavy.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
The blue Aegean girds this chosen home, With ever-changing sound and light and foam Kissing the sifted sands and caverns hoar; And all the winds wandering along the shore, Undulate with the undulating tide.
From Percy Bysshe Shelley by Symonds, John Addington
Repand, Undulate, or Wavy, when the margin of the leaf forms a wavy line, bending slightly inwards and outwards in succession; as in Fig.
From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa
Come, lovely and soothing death, Undulate round the world, serenely arriving, arriving, In the day, in the night, to all, to each, Sooner or later, delicate death.
From Our American Holidays: Lincoln's Birthday A Comprehensive View of Lincoln as Given in the Most Noteworthy Essays, Orations and Poems, in Fiction and in Lincoln's Own Writings by Schauffler, Robert Haven
The blue Ægean girds this chosen home, With ever-changing sound and light and foam Kissing the sifted sands and caverns hoar; And all the winds wandering along the shore Undulate with the undulating tide.
From Six Centuries of English Poetry Tennyson to Chaucer by Baldwin, James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
