Oscillation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Oscillation \Os`cil*la"tion\, n. [L. oscillatio a swinging.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The act of oscillating; a swinging or moving backward and
        forward, like a pendulum; vibration.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. Fluctuation; variation; change back and forth.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His mind oscillated, undoubtedly; but the extreme
              points of the oscillation were not very remote.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Axis of oscillation}, {Center of oscillation}. See under
        {Axis}, and {Center}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  oscillation
       n 1: the process of oscillating between states
       2: (physics) a regular periodic variation in value about a mean
          [syn: {vibration}]
       3: a single complete execution of a periodically repeated
          phenomenon; "a year constitutes a cycle of the seasons"
          [syn: {cycle}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  35 Moby Thesaurus words for "oscillation":
     alternation, beat, cyclicalness, equivocation, fluctuation,
     intermittence, intermittency, meter, pendulation, pendulum motion,
     periodicalness, periodicity, piston motion, pulsation,
     reappearance, recurrence, regular wave motion, reoccurrence,
     return, rhythm, seasonality, seesawing, shifting, shilly-shally,
     shilly-shallying, shuffling, teeter-tottering, teetering,
     tottering, undulation, vacillation, variation, vicissitude,
     wavering, wobbling