vacillating
Americanadjective
-
not resolute; wavering; indecisive; hesitating.
an ineffectual, vacillating person.
- Synonyms:
- irresolute, hesitant
-
oscillating; swaying; fluctuating.
a vacillating indicator.
adjective
Synonym Usage
See fickle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of vacillating
First recorded in 1805–15; vacillat(e) + -ing 2
Explanation
If someone can't make up their mind, you can call that person vacillating. A vacillating student might not know whether to commit to a major in electrical engineering or in art history. The word vacillating comes from the Latin vacillat- meaning "swayed." When you're having trouble sticking to a decision, you can be described as vacillating — meaning that you are swaying between two choices. The spelling of vacillating can be tricky to remember. But vacillating, like its definition "uncertain," has the letter c in it. And to remember the two ls, think about the word's meaning, wavering between two choices.
Vocabulary lists containing vacillating
Frankenstein
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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The Importance of Being Earnest
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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.
We are a country, and a world, chasing its tail – vacillating between hatred, anger and a desire for peace.
From Salon • Sep. 19, 2024
Not surprisingly, being the center of such wildly vacillating public opinion took its toll.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 12, 2023
Strait and the 11-piece band spent much of the night vacillating between up-tempo ditties that often turn a bit of sorrow into a winking good time and slower, more heavy-hearted fare.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 18, 2023
As his parents, Michael Goldberg and Juliane Köhler come off as clueless boomers trying their best to be tolerant and vacillating between self-recrimination and despair.
From New York Times • Mar. 27, 2023
Three overlapping reasons appear to have converged in Adams’s mind and provided decisive direction to a foreign policy that, until then, had been vacillating between the incompatible agendas of the Federalists and the Republicans.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
