fluctuate
Americanverb (used without object)
-
fluctuates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fluctuated,
past participle, past
-
fluctuating
present participle
-
to change continually; shift back and forth; vary irregularly.
The price of gold fluctuated wildly last month.
-
to move back and forth in waves.
- Synonyms:
- oscillate
verb (used with object)
-
fluctuates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fluctuated,
past participle, past
-
fluctuating
present participle
verb
-
to change or cause to change position constantly; be or make unstable; waver or vary
-
(intr) to rise and fall like a wave; undulate
Usage
What does fluctuate mean? Fluctuate means to continually change or shift back and forth. The verb is most commonly used in the context of abstract or intangible things that frequently change, such as temperature, the stock market, or someone’s mood. This kind of continual change is called fluctuation. Example: The volume on my TV keeps fluctuating—it gets louder during commercials and then it gets quiet again when the show comes back on.
Synonym Usage
See waver 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fluctuatesimple
-
fluctuatessimple
-
have fluctuatedperfect
-
has fluctuatedperfect
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am fluctuatingprogressive
-
are fluctuatingprogressive
-
is fluctuatingprogressive
-
have been fluctuatingperfect progressive
-
has been fluctuatingperfect progressive
Past
-
fluctuatedsimple
-
had fluctuatedperfect
-
was fluctuatingprogressive
-
were fluctuatingprogressive
-
had been fluctuatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fluctuate
First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin fluctuātus “undulated,” past participle of fluctuāre “to flow,” equivalent to fluctu(s) “a flowing” (derivative of fluere “to flow”) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Something that fluctuates varies or changes — it's the opposite of steady. Like the ups and downs of the stock market or the relationship status of a Hollywood starlet. Fluctuate is a verb that describes movement, sometimes irregular, but often rising and falling in a wave-like pattern. The tides fluctuate according to the weather and season, for example. Your emotions fluctuate depending on what happens throughout the day, and so does your weight. In fact, you usually weigh less in the morning, before you've eaten. You're also taller, since your spine compresses as you walk around. So your height fluctuates, too.
Vocabulary lists containing fluctuate
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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Darius the Great Is Not Okay
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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.
See Examples For:
PDD PDD -1.27%decrease; down pointing triangle Holdings has cautioned that its financial performance could fluctuate as it strengthens its e-commerce ecosystem.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
However, the photons in each type of light fluctuate and interact in different ways.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
The secondary market allows fans to re-sell their tickets, potentially opening chances to see sold-through or popular sports, but the prices could fluctuate drastically.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
She contacted BBC Your Voice to share her frustrations in watching holiday prices fluctuate.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
The rings of concentric circles along its barrel fluctuate through a rainbow of glowing colors as the weapon powers up.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
As packages are unveiled and sold, available inventory on the website fluctuates — which means fans can spend a lot of time checking and rechecking.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
It’s one of the largest concentrations of capybaras in São Paulo, though its exact number of members fluctuates.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
That reaction is mainly driven by changes in progesterone levels, which peak, and oestrogen, which fluctuates, triggering strong feelings of despair, loss and a lack of control.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
And the ratio might bounce around in coming quarters as tax receipts come in, tariff refunds go out and GDP fluctuates in response to inflation and revisions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
The quota system has worked for over two hundred years, and although it fluctuates region to region, it makes it crystal clear what each scythe’s responsibility to the world is.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Equity markets fluctuated ahead of the CPI release, though Seoul enjoyed another strong day as it claws back some of the huge tech-led losses sustained in July.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Since then, global oil prices have fluctuated wildly.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
For most of the past decade that gap fluctuated between $10 and $15 a barrel.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
In all of Major League Baseball, home run totals have fluctuated but gradually increased over the years, with this year’s pace running slightly ahead of last year’s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
She had been chubby as a child, at least to some eyes, and in her teens her weight fluctuated wildly.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Investors have increasingly turned to healthcare and biopharma stocks this summer as part of a rotation away from the fluctuating performance of tech and semiconductor stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta and and Wellington were also up, with Manila fluctuating.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
What the polls generally failed to foresee—and arguably shouldn’t have been expected to, given the fluctuating field—was that just enough voters would ultimately coalesce behind Crowley to put him over the top.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
These adaptations evolved to optimize energy storage and usage in environments with fluctuating food availability.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Instead of having fluctuating populations that periodically outran their resources and starved, they maintained smaller populations that enjoyed an abundance of food in good years and a sufficiency in bad years.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
