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
Related Words
See swing 1.
Other Word Forms
- interoscillate verb
- unoscillating adjective
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
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.
Conditions oscillate between La Nina and its warming opposite El Nino, with neutral conditions in between.
From Barron's
This allows the beads to begin oscillating on their own while floating in mid-air, producing a steady rhythm that reflects the unusual forces at play.
From Science Daily
The microscope allowed them to observe a frictionless flow of electrons behaving like a "superfluid," moving together and oscillating at terahertz frequencies within the material.
From Science Daily
RSI, which oscillates between 10 and 100, tends to rise when prices rise.
From MarketWatch
If neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate differently, that difference could point to why matter ultimately prevailed.
From Science Daily
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.
