oscillation
an act or instance of oscillating.
a single swing or movement in one direction of an oscillating body.
fluctuation between beliefs, opinions, conditions, etc.
Physics.
an effect expressible as a quantity that repeatedly and regularly fluctuates above and below some mean value, as the pressure of a sound wave or the voltage of an alternating current.
a single fluctuation between maximum and minimum values in such an effect.
Mathematics.
the difference between the least upper bound and the greatest lower bound of the functional values of a function in a given interval.
Also called saltus. the limit of the oscillation in an interval containing a given point, as the length of the interval approaches zero.
Origin of oscillation
1Words Nearby oscillation
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use oscillation in a sentence
A simple example is sound waves, the synchronized oscillations of molecules of matter.
Klimesch developed the “binary hierarchy brain-body oscillation theory,” which says that consciousness is a function of various levels of resonance both within the brain and between the brain and various other organs, like the heart and stomach.
Are the Brain’s Electromagnetic Fields the Seat of Consciousness? - Facts So Romantic | Tam Hunt | October 27, 2020 | NautilusThe researchers found that slow oscillations could trigger synaptic activity in neurons that were not connected by synapses.
Are the Brain’s Electromagnetic Fields the Seat of Consciousness? - Facts So Romantic | Tam Hunt | October 27, 2020 | NautilusTwo photons, for instance, can be entangled so they always have the opposite polarization, or angle of oscillation.
‘Schrödinger’s Web’ offers a sneak peek at the quantum internet | Dan Garisto | September 28, 2020 | Science NewsYou can think of the problems that need solving as the demand and human skills as the supply, and the two are in constant oscillation, including, every few decades or centuries, a massive shift.
A Human-Centric World of Work: Why It Matters, and How to Build It | Vanessa Bates Ramirez | May 29, 2020 | Singularity Hub
One of those observations is BOSS: the Baryon oscillation Spectroscopic Survey.
Using Black Holes to Measure Dark Energy, Like a BOSS | Matthew R. Francis | April 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBaryon oscillation is basically sound waves in the early Universe.
Using Black Holes to Measure Dark Energy, Like a BOSS | Matthew R. Francis | April 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe last time we detected a plasma oscillation was nine years ago.
Voyager Is Sending Us the Sounds of Interstellar Space | Josh Dzieza | September 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTSeeing the luggage piled “Olympus high,” so as to occasion an alarming oscillation.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. HarperThe oscillation without raised and depressed the level of the waters within, with the regularity of respiration.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor HugoThus there is a perpetual oscillation in spiritual truths, and in spiritual doctrines of any significance, even when not truths.
A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive | John Stuart MillHe went off into a happy mist of quantum mechanics, oscillation theory, and periodic functions of a complex variable.
Security | Poul William AndersonThe brake is watched carefully, lest irregularity of lubrication should cause oscillation of speed with the changing resistance.
A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine | Robert H. Thurston
British Dictionary definitions for oscillation
/ (ˌɒsɪˈleɪʃən) /
physics statistics
regular fluctuation in value, position, or state about a mean value, such as the variation in an alternating current or the regular swinging of a pendulum
a single cycle of such a fluctuation
the act or process of oscillating
Derived forms of oscillation
- oscillatory (ˈɒsɪlətərɪ, -trɪ), adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for oscillation
[ ŏs′ə-lā′shən ]
A repeating fluctuation in a physical object or quantity. See also attractor harmonic motion.
A single cycle of such fluctuation.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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