oscillation

[os-uh-ley-shuh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR oscillation ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an act or instance of oscillating.

a single swing or movement in one direction of an oscillating body.

fluctuation between beliefs, opinions, conditions, etc.

Physics.

an effect expressible as a quantity that repeatedly and regularly fluctuates above and below some mean value, as the pressure of a sound wave or the voltage of an alternating current.
a single fluctuation between maximum and minimum values in such an effect.

Mathematics.

the difference between the least upper bound and the greatest lower bound of the functional values of a function in a given interval.
Also called saltus.the limit of the oscillation in an interval containing a given point, as the length of the interval approaches zero.

Nearby words

Origin of oscillation

1650–60; < Latin oscillātiōn- (stem of oscillātiō) a swinging, equivalent to oscillāt(us) (see oscillate) + -iōn- -ion

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for oscillation

Baryon oscillation is basically sound waves in the early Universe.
Using Black Holes to Measure Dark Energy, Like a BOSS|Matthew R. Francis|April 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This is a very simple engine of the oscillation type, and there should be little trouble in making it.
Boys' Book of Model Boats|Raymond Francis Yates
The hot weather, which lengthened the steel rods, raised the column of mercury, and so brought the centre of oscillation higher.
Captains of Industry|James Parton
And so there is produced an oscillation and an average which represent a social state, an epoch, sometimes a whole civilization.
Amiel's Journal|Henri-Frdric Amiel

The oscillation frequency of the plate was once in a second, and the magnification employed was ten thousand times.
Life Movements in Plants|Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose
This audion is in a feed-back circuit, the oscillation frequency of which depends upon the condenser C and the inductance L.
Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son|John Mills

British Dictionary definitions for oscillation

oscillation

noun

physics statistics

regular fluctuation in value, position, or state about a mean value, such as the variation in an alternating current or the regular swinging of a pendulum
a single cycle of such a fluctuation

the act or process of oscillating

Derived Formsoscillatory (ˈɒsɪlətərɪ, -trɪ), adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for oscillation

oscillation

1650s, from French oscillation, from Latin oscillationem (nominative oscillatio), noun of action from past participle stem of oscillare "to swing," supposed to be from oscillum "little face," literally "little mouth," a mask of open-mouthed Bacchus hung up in vineyards as a charm (the sense evolution would be via the notion of "swing in the breeze"); from PIE *os- "mouth" (see oral).

Medicine definitions for oscillation

oscillation

[ŏs′ə-lā′shən]

n.

The act of oscillating.

The state of being oscillated.

A single oscillatory cycle.

A stage in inflammation in which the accumulation of white blood cells in the small vessels arrests the passage of blood, thus causing a to-and-fro movement of the blood at each cardiac contraction.

Related formsos′cil•la′tion•al adj.

Science definitions for oscillation