oscillate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to swing or move to and fro, as a pendulum does.
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to vary or vacillate between differing beliefs, opinions, conditions, etc..
He oscillates regularly between elation and despair.
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Physics. to have, produce, or generate oscillations.
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Mathematics. (of a function, sequence, etc.) to tend to no limit, including infinity.
The sequence 0, 1, 0, 1, … oscillates.
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to move or swing from side to side regularly
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(intr) to waver between opinions, courses of action, etc
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physics to undergo or produce or cause to undergo or produce oscillation
Related Words
See swing 1.
Other Word Forms
- interoscillate verb
- unoscillating adjective
Etymology
Origin of oscillate
1720–30; < Latin oscillātus (past participle of oscillāre “to swing, ride on a swing”), equivalent to oscill(um) “a swing” + -ātus -ate 1
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.
“It’s been kind of a sideways-driven market that is continuing to oscillate between good economic data and bad jobs data.”
From MarketWatch • Feb. 5, 2026
You talked about how women have to oscillate between trying to be likable and lovable.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 10, 2025
Conditions oscillate between La Nina and its opposite, El Nino, with neutral phases in between.
From Barron's • Oct. 9, 2025
The rods would soak up most of the electric field there while allowing it to oscillate at full strength beyond the rods, restoring the conversion rate.
From Science Magazine • Nov. 20, 2024
It would oscillate through the earth and back, until eventually it settled down at the center.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
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.
