seesaw

American  

[see-saw] / ˈsiˌsɔ /

noun

1. a recreation in which two children alternately ride up and down while seated at opposite ends of a plank balanced at the middle.

2. a plank or apparatus for this recreation.

3. an up-and-down or a back-and-forth movement or procedure.

4. Whist. a crossruff.

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adjective

1. moving up and down, back and forth, or alternately ahead and behind.

   It was a seesaw game with the lead changing hands many times.

verb (used without object)

1. to move in a seesaw manner.

   The boat seesawed in the heavy sea.

2. to ride or play on a seesaw.

3. to keep changing one's decision, opinion, or attitude; vacillate.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to move in a seesaw manner.

seesaw British  

/ ˈsiːˌsɔː /

noun

1. a plank balanced in the middle so that two people seated on the ends can ride up and down by pushing on the ground with their feet

2. the pastime of riding up and down on a seesaw

3. 1. an up-and-down or back-and-forth movement

   2. ( as modifier )

      a seesaw movement

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verb

1. (intr) to move up and down or back and forth in such a manner; oscillate

Regionalisms

Although seesaw (def. 2) is the most widely used term in the U.S., teetertotter is also in wide use in the Northern, North Midland, and Western regions. Tilting board and its variants tilt board and tiltering board are New Eng. terms, especially Eastern New Eng., while tinter and its variant teenter are associated with Western New Eng.

Etymology

Origin of seesaw

1630–40 as part of a jingle accompanying a children's game; gradational compound based on saw ¹

Example Sentences

The 23-year-old struck in the 85th minute of a seesaw Premier League struggle in northeast England.

From Barron's

Japan's debts are more than twice the size of the entire economy, and in recent weeks yields on long-dated bonds have hit record highs while the yen has seesawed.

From Barron's

England came out on top of a seesawing contest at the Melbourne Cricket Ground played on a grassy bowler-friendly deck that made batting treacherous and was all over inside two days.

From Barron's

A pumped-up England dismissed Australia for 132 on another chaotic day at the fourth Ashes Test Saturday to leave themselves needing 175 to win a seesawing contest.

From Barron's

That has resulted in U.S. equity markets seesawing in recent days.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• fluctuate
• teeter
• vacillate
• waver