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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Vacillate \Vac"il*late\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Vacillated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Vacillating}.] [L. vacillare, vacillatum; cf. Skr. va[~n]c.]
1. To move one way and the other; to reel or stagger; to waver.
[A spheroid] is always liable to shift and vacillatefrom one axis to another. --Paley.
2. To fluctuate in mind or opinion; to be unsteady or inconstant; to waver.
Syn: See {Fluctuate}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
vacillate
verb
1: be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action; "He oscillates between accepting the new position and retirement" [syn: {hover}, {vibrate}, {oscillate}]
2: move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern; "the line on the monitor vacillated" [syn: {fluctuate}, {waver}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
104 Moby Thesaurus words for "vacillate": alternate, back and fill, bob, bobble, careen, change, changeable, chop and change, coggle, dally, dallying, dangle, demurring, dickey, dillydallying, dither, double-minded, doubtful, doubting, ebb and flow, eccentric, equivocate, erratic, falter, faltering, fickle, fiddle-faddle, flounder, fluctuant, fluctuate, fluctuating, flutter, go through phases, halt, halting, hang in doubt, hem and haw, hesitant, hesitate, hesitating, inconstant, indecisive, insecure, irresolute, librate, lurch, mercurial, nutate, oscillate, oscillating, pendulate, pendulous, pitch, reel, resonate, ring the changes, rock, roll, rootless, seesaw, shake, shaky, shift, shifting, shilly-shally, shilly-shallying, shuffle, stagger, stop to consider, swag, sway, swing, teeter, teeter-totter, tentative, tergiversate, think twice, timid, toss, totter, turn, uncertain, unresolved, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, unsure, vacillating, vacillatory, vary, vibrate, volatile, wag, waggle, wave, waver, wavering, wax and wane, weak, weak-kneed, whiffle, wigwag, wobble, wobbly
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |