seesaw
Americannoun
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a recreation in which two children alternately ride up and down while seated at opposite ends of a plank balanced at the middle.
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a plank or apparatus for this recreation.
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an up-and-down or a back-and-forth movement or procedure.
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Whist. a crossruff.
adjective
verb (used without object)
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to move in a seesaw manner.
The boat seesawed in the heavy sea.
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to ride or play on a seesaw.
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to keep changing one's decision, opinion, or attitude; vacillate.
verb (used with object)
noun
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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
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the pastime of riding up and down on a seesaw
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an up-and-down or back-and-forth movement
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( as modifier )
a seesaw movement
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verb
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.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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seesawsimple
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seesawssimple
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have seesawedperfect
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has seesawedperfect
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am seesawingprogressive
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are seesawingprogressive
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is seesawingprogressive
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have been seesawingperfect progressive
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has been seesawingperfect progressive
Past
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seesawedsimple
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had seesawedperfect
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was seesawingprogressive
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were seesawingprogressive
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had been seesawingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of seesaw
1630–40 as part of a jingle accompanying a children's game; gradational compound based on saw 1
Explanation
A seesaw is a piece of playground equipment made of a board balanced on a center support. To play on a seesaw, you sit on one end with a friend on the other end, moving up and down. You might also call a seesaw a teeter-totter — they are common in parks and on school playgrounds. When you sit on a seesaw, with your friend on the opposite side, each of you takes turns pushing up off the ground. When you go up into the air, your friend touches the ground, and when your friend goes up, you go down. Seesaw comes from the French ci-ça, or "this-that."
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:
He compared his job to being on a seesaw: if he stepped down, his co-workers would struggle to keep going.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Ruby said company finances seesaw because coal is a “boom and bust” industry.
From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026
“Right now, there’s just this very delicate seesaw sitting and neither side is really rising to the top,” said Shari Hensrud, chief investment officer at MissionSquare.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
All this during a rather seesaw start of the year for Netflix investors.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 3, 2026
In his relations with her he felt that he was riding a seesaw; never were they on a common level; either he or she was up in the air.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
The music seesaws brilliantly between Blanche’s dreaming arias, when time seems to stop, and her impoverished reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
The show "seesaws between thrilling and annoying", according to USA Today's Kelly Lawler, while the Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert described most of it as "largely joyless and grim".
From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2025
Bonds are like seesaws: The yield falls when the price rises.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 22, 2025
His performance as Seth Milchick in Season 2 of “Severance” showcases his range, as his character seesaws from a cheery to chilling middle manager.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2025
During recess the boys would divide in two groups, chasing each other wildly around the swings and seesaws, Redcoats against the colonies.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Gold prices hit a three-month low of $3,990 in late June, and have since seesawed with Middle East peace talks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
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 ● Feb. 7, 2026
Meanwhile, Chewy’s stock seesawed to a decline of 0.3% in recent afternoon trading.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 10, 2025
At other times, the 26-year-old charged with murdering the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare seesawed between pain and numbness in his lower back and genital area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2024
The battles seesawed back and forth, favoring first one side then the other, while neither side achieved a decisive victory and the casualties mounted.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
What’s off about Patience is a seesawing set of symptoms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
A bit of seesawing is likely in the short term.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 2, 2026
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 ● Dec. 27, 2025
These last few weeks have seen yet more changeable weather with temperatures seesawing from freezing to balmy in a matter of days.
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2024
Ambassador Rahel, unable to cope with seesawing changes in her life, had raveled herself like a sausage into the dirty airport curtain, and wouldn’t unravel.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
