vacillation

[ vas-uh-ley-shuhn ]

noun

1. an act or instance of vacillating. vacillating.
2. a state of indecision or irresolution.
3. unsteady movement; fluctuation.

Other Words From

• nonvac·il·lation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of vacillation¹

1350–1400; Middle English vacillacion < Latin vacillātiōn- (stem of vacillātiō ) a swaying. See vacillate, -ion

Example Sentences

Cameras and laser-based detectors mounted on the ceiling capture and quantify those pauses and vacillations.

From Popular-Science

After some vacillation, I decided to include the translation at the very end of the entry, especially because, as a runner-up, it appeared near the top of the list of more than 30 entries.

From Washington Post

On the other hand, the vacillation in policy and the policy uncertainty is unsettling, just like it would be for employees in a company.

From Freakonomics

He also could blame the downturn on the vacillation of authorities—and politics.

From The Daily Beast

At the Pentagon, which bears the brunt of much of this hesitation and vacillation, the mood is one of not-so-quiet desperation.

From The Daily Beast

Paul Krugman of The New York Times is convinced that the president's weakness and vacillation are to blame.

From The Daily Beast

Before parliament was prorogued the weakness and vacillation of the ministry had been very apparent.

From Project Gutenberg

He was generally a man of prompt decision, and he well knew that he would incur by this act the charge of vacillation.

From Project Gutenberg

All this vacillation harmonised with the foreign and domestic policy of Sir Robert Peel, under whose instructions he acted.

From Project Gutenberg

At Erfurt the same vacillation overmastered Napoleon (p. 181) as that with which he had been tormented since Tilsit.

From Project Gutenberg

Again, the vacillation of the ministry defeated the expedition against Canada.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• hesitation