oscillate

[os-uh-leyt]

verb (used without object)

oscillated, oscillating 

1. to swing or move to and fro, as a pendulum does.

2. to vary or vacillate between differing beliefs, opinions, conditions, etc..

   He oscillates regularly between elation and despair.

   Synonyms: waver, fluctuate

3. Physics.,  to have, produce, or generate oscillations.

4. Mathematics.,  (of a function, sequence, etc.) to tend to no limit, including infinity.

   The sequence 0, 1, 0, 1, … oscillates.

verb (used with object)

oscillated, oscillating 

1. to cause to move to and fro; vibrate.

oscillate

/ ˈɒsɪˌleɪt /

verb

1. (intr) to move or swing from side to side regularly

2. (intr) to waver between opinions, courses of action, etc

3. physics to undergo or produce or cause to undergo or produce oscillation

Other Word Forms

• interoscillate verb
• unoscillating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of oscillate¹

1720–30; < Latin oscillātus (past participle of oscillāre “to swing, ride on a swing”), equivalent to oscill(um) “a swing” + -ātus -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of oscillate¹

C18: from Latin oscillāre to swing, from oscillum a swing

Synonym Study

See swing ¹.

Example Sentences

Expectations about the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting oscillated sharply this past week, with a quarter-point cut in the federal-funds target rate once again being the odds-on bet.

Read more on Barron's

Expectations about the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting oscillated sharply this past week, with a quarter-point cut in the federal-funds target rate once again being the odds-on bet.

Read more on Barron's

The narrative oscillates between a journalistic view of the band’s history and something of an insider’s account.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Then in 2020, Gaia uncovered that this warped disc slowly oscillates over time, similar to the motion of a spinning top.

Read more on Science Daily

While this study focused on plasmons, the new chip-scale THz spectroscope could detect other types of quasiparticles oscillating in many different 2D materials.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• fluctuate 
• lurch 
• seesaw 
• teeter 
• vacillate 
• waver 
• wobble