Vacillate

3 definitions found

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

  Vacillate \Vac"il*late\ (v[a^]s"[i^]l*l[=a]t), v. i. [imp. & p.
     p. {Vacillated} (v[a^]s"[i^]l*l[=a]`t[e^]d); p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Vacillating}.] [L. vacillare, vacillatum; cf. Skr. va[~n]c.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To move one way and the other; to reel or stagger; to
        waver.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              [A spheroid] is always liable to shift and
              vacillatefrom one axis to another.    --Paley.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To fluctuate in mind or opinion; to be unsteady or
        inconstant; to waver.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: See {Fluctuate}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  vacillate
       v 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