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
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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:
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
As a result, gross margins will fluctuate quarter to quarter in the near term.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
The Singapore dollar is managed against an undisclosed basket of currencies belonging to the city-state’s major trading partners and allowed to fluctuate within a policy band.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Rick said, “A humanoid robot is like any other machine; it can fluctuate between being a benefit and a hazard very rapidly. As a benefit it’s not our problem.”
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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
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
I work for myself and my salary fluctuates between $80,000 and $170,000 a year.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 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
The revenues of 1736 Family Crisis Center have fluctuated in recent years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 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
Asian equities fluctuated Tuesday following a tech-led sell-off on Wall Street as investors again questioned a long-running AI-fuelled boom, while crude largely held losses that came on the back of positive US-Iran talks.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Having never fluctuated much in value, triple-A-rated subprime-backed CDOs registered on Morgan Stanley’s internal reports as virtually riskless.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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
After a fluctuating start in the international game, it was in 2016 when then-coach Mark Robinson promoted her to open and she never looked back.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
The energy in a tiny volume of vacuum must be fluctuating constantly.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
