vacillate

American

[vas-uh-leyt] / ˈvæs əˌleɪt /

verb (used without object)

vacillated, vacillating

to waver in mind or opinion; be indecisive or irresolute.

His tendency to vacillate makes him a poor leader.

Synonyms:

hesitate
to sway unsteadily; waver; totter; stagger.

Synonyms:

reel
to oscillate or fluctuate.

vacillate British

/ ˈvæsɪˌleɪt /

verb

to fluctuate in one's opinions; be indecisive
to sway from side to side physically; totter or waver

"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

Related Words

See waver ¹.

Other Word Forms

vacillation noun
vacillator noun

Etymology

Origin of vacillate

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin vacillātus (past participle of vacillāre “to sway to and fro”); -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.

But Bruni easily could have been talking about Sacred Heart Hospital, whose staff vacillates between bridging the compassion gap between medical professionals and patients and managing our expectations.

From Salon

It is closer to music than epic, a mesmerizing suite of songs that conveys Tennyson’s private sorrow as he vacillates from unbearable agony to precarious hope.

From The Wall Street Journal

Washington has vacillated between pressing Europe to hit China with tariffs to cutting its own deals with Beijing.

From The Wall Street Journal

His yellow eyes vacillate between me and Autumn.

From Literature

Both sides have vacillated between tough talk and de-escalation in recent days, but the rhetoric took a harder turn on Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023