fluctuant
Americanadjective
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fluctuating; varying; unstable.
-
undulating; moving or seeming to move in waves.
adjective
Usage
What does fluctuant mean? Fluctuant is an adjective used to describe things that are fluctuating—continually changing or shifting back and forth. It often implies that such things are unstable or prone to varying. It’s typically applied to abstract or intangible things that frequently change, such as temperature, the stock market, or someone’s mood. It can also be used to describe things that move or seem to move in waves. Fluctuant is much less commonly used than the verb fluctuate and the noun fluctuation. Example: The volume on my TV is annoyingly fluctuant—it gets louder during commercials and then it gets quiet again when the show comes back on.
Other Word Forms
- unfluctuant adjective
Etymology
Origin of fluctuant
1550–60; < Latin fluctuant- (stem of fluctuāns ) (present participle of fluctuāre to undulate). See fluctuate, -ant
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.
The result was an unflattering portrait that emphasized "strong, although fluctuant, emotional attachments" and "sudden and extreme shifts in loyalty and enthusiasm."
From Time Magazine Archive
So my Dream fell dead; and the fluctuant passion — The stress and strain of the past re-grew, The world laughed on in its heedless fashion, But Earth whirled worthless, because of you!
From An Anthology of Australian Verse by Stevens, Bertram
Just now, therefore, Francis Lingen flowed murmuring on his way, like a purling brook, rippling, fluctuant, carrying insignificant straws, insects of the hour, on his course, never jamming, or heaving up, monotonous but soothing.
From Love and Lucy by Hewlett, Maurice Henry
Society at Balderville was of the fluctuant, intermittent order that obtains at minor resorts; the crop of visitors was bad or good, according to the year, like the peaches or cotton.
From The Wayfarers by Cutting, Mary Stewart Doubleday
With fluctuant blackness against immutable blackness great sweeping pine trees swished weirdly into the horizon.
From Peace on Earth, Good-will to Dogs by Abbott, Eleanor Hallowell
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.
