undulate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to move with a sinuous or wavelike motion; display a smooth rising-and-falling or side-to-side alternation of movement.
The flag undulates in the breeze.
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to have a wavy form or surface; bend with successive curves in alternate directions.
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(of a sound) to rise and fall in pitch.
the wail of a siren undulating in the distance.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to move in waves.
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to give a wavy form to.
adjective
verb
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to move or cause to move in waves or as if in waves
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to have or provide with a wavy form or appearance
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonundulate adjective
- undulator noun
Etymology
Origin of undulate
First recorded in 1650–60; from Latin undulātus waved, equivalent to und(a) “wave” + -ul(a) -ule + -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.
Our measly four seasons are insufficient in describing the way nature undulates around us, week to week and month to month.
The fog coalesced around the summits, with sunset’s final rays transforming them into a gracefully undulating landscape of golden gauze.
From Los Angeles Times
Then, as now, she couldn’t stop watching the undulating group of animals.
From Literature
This newly found "great wave" might also have some link to a smaller undulating structure known as the Radcliffe Wave, which lies roughly 500 light-years from the Sun and extends about 9,000 light-years across.
From Science Daily
But soon enough, the stampede settles down and each cow does its own thing -- some progressing at a steady pace, others curiously approaching the crowd of thousands lining the undulating, circular course.
From Barron's
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.
