oscillate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to swing or move to and fro, as a pendulum does.
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to vary or vacillate between differing beliefs, opinions, conditions, etc..
He oscillates regularly between elation and despair.
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Physics. to have, produce, or generate oscillations.
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Mathematics. (of a function, sequence, etc.) to tend to no limit, including infinity.
The sequence 0, 1, 0, 1, … oscillates.
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to move or swing from side to side regularly
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(intr) to waver between opinions, courses of action, etc
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physics to undergo or produce or cause to undergo or produce oscillation
Synonym Usage
See swing 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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oscillatesimple
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oscillatessimple
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have oscillatedperfect
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has oscillatedperfect
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am oscillatingprogressive
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are oscillatingprogressive
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is oscillatingprogressive
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have been oscillatingperfect progressive
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has been oscillatingperfect progressive
Past
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oscillatedsimple
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had oscillatedperfect
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was oscillatingprogressive
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were oscillatingprogressive
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had been oscillatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of oscillate
1720–30; < Latin oscillātus (past participle of oscillāre “to swing, ride on a swing”), equivalent to oscill(um) “a swing” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
On a hot day, you’ll be happy to have a fan that can oscillate, meaning it moves back and forth in a steady motion. The verb oscillate can be traced back to the Latin word oscillum, meaning "swing," so it makes sense that oscillate is used to describe an object like a fan or a pendulum that swings from side to side. The word also can be used to describe a different kind of motion — the wavering of someone who is going back and forth between conflicting beliefs or actions. If you’ve ever had trouble making up your mind about something, you probably know what it feels like to oscillate — back and forth from one decision and to another and then back again. And again. And again.
Vocabulary lists containing oscillate
Unit 1: Telling Details
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"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
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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:
The researchers observed signs of deep-strong light-matter coupling, a phenomenon in which electrons inside the silver nanoparticles oscillate in perfect synchrony with light waves and become quantum mechanically entangled.
From Science Daily ● May 30, 2026
Thus, governments oscillate between ignoring developments that are moving too fast to process and aggressively intervening when scary risks appear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
“It’s been kind of a sideways-driven market that is continuing to oscillate between good economic data and bad jobs data.”
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 5, 2026
You talked about how women have to oscillate between trying to be likable and lovable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2025
It would oscillate through the earth and back, until eventually it settled down at the center.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
RSI, which oscillates between 10 and 100, tends to rise when prices rise.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 6, 2026
The narrative oscillates between a journalistic view of the band’s history and something of an insider’s account.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
In a cavity’s lowest mode, the radio waves’ electric field oscillates uniformly up and down along the cavity axis.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 20, 2024
At the core of the film is the undeniable chemistry between Pitt and Clooney, which oscillates between camaraderie and competition.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2024
It oscillates up and down faster and faster as it approaches the singularity, whipping from positive to negative and back again.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Tech conglomerate SoftBank—a proxy for the AI trade—Advantest and Kioxia, to name a few, have oscillated sharply as market sentiment flits between euphoria over the technology’s long-term promise and pessimism over monetization and sky-high valuations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
Culturally, hyper-machismo has oscillated from cool to lame to ironically cool and back again for decades.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
Even though the stock-bond correlation has oscillated widely over the years, this ratio has remained remarkably constant — as you can see from the chart above.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 30, 2026
The sudden dip in air quality levels since Saturday came after the capital had shown some improvement over the past week - when it oscillated between "poor" and "very poor".
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2025
The only sound was the fan, clicking each time it oscillated across the room.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
The debate about AI and jobs has become exhausting and largely unproductive, oscillating between “AI will take all jobs” and “AI will create more jobs than it destroys.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Many physical systems behave like tiny oscillating objects, similar to springs or pendulums.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 2026
Round number theory has been in play, with shares oscillating between $300 and $400 since breaking into that range late last May.
From Barron's ● Jan. 20, 2026
Inconsequential wins and losses spread out for hours on end, my money gently oscillating with the tide.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025
“Like a clock that is not oscillating properly.”
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
