Adjacent Words

Oscillate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

OS'CILLATE, v.i. [L. oscillo, from ant. cillo, Gr. to move.]
To swing; to move backward and forward; to vibrate.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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, vacillate, oscillate]
2: move or swing from side to side regularly; "the needle on the meter was oscillating" [syn: oscillate, vibrate]

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb (-lated; -lating) Etymology: Latin oscillatus, past participle of oscillare to swing, from oscillum swing Date: 1726 1. a. to swing backward and forward like a pendulum b. to move or travel back and forth between two points 2. to vary between opposing beliefs, feelings, or theories 3. to vary above and below a mean value Synonyms: see swing • oscillatory adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 intr. & tr. a swing to and fro like a pendulum. b move to and fro between points. 2 intr. vacillate; vary between extremes of opinion, action, etc. 3 intr. Physics move with periodic regularity. 4 intr. Electr. (of a current) undergo high-frequency alternations as across a spark-gap or in a valve-transmitter circuit. 5 intr. (of a radio receiver) radiate electromagnetic waves owing to faulty operation. Derivatives: oscillation n. oscillator n. oscillatory adj. Etymology: L oscillare oscillat- swing

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Oscillate Os"cil*late, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Oscillated; p. pr. & vb. n. Oscillating.] [L. oscillare to swing, fr. oscillum a swing, a little mask or puppet made to be hung from trees and swing in the wind, prob. orig., a little mouth, a dim. from os mouth. See Oral, and cf. Osculate.] 1. To move backward and forward; to vibrate like a pendulum; to swing; to sway. 2. To vary or fluctuate between fixed limits; to act or move in a fickle or fluctuating manner; to change repeatedly, back and forth. The amount of superior families oscillates rather than changes, that is, it fluctuates within fixed limits. --Dc Quincey.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(oscillates, oscillating, oscillated) 1. If an object oscillates, it moves repeatedly from one position to another and back again, or keeps getting bigger and smaller. (FORMAL) I checked to see if the needle indicating volume was oscillating. VERB: V • oscillation (oscillations) Some oscillation of the fuselage had been noticed on early flights. N-VAR 2. If the level or value of something oscillates between one amount and another, it keeps going up and down between the two amounts. (FORMAL) Oil markets oscillated on the day's reports from Geneva. ...an oscillating signal of microwave frequency. = fluctuate VERB: no passive, V, V-ing • oscillation (oscillations) There have always been slight oscillations in world temperature. N-VAR 3. If you oscillate between two moods, attitudes, or types of behaviour, you keep changing from one to the other and back again. (FORMAL) The president of the Republic oscillated between a certain audacity and a prudent realism. VERB: no passive, V between n and n • oscillation ...that perpetual oscillation between despair and distracted joy.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. 1. Swing, vibrate, sway, move to and fro, move backward and forward. 2. Vary, fluctuate.

Moby Thesaurus

alternate, back and fill, be here again, bob, bobble, careen, change, circle, coggle, come again, come and go, come around, come round, come round again, come up again, cycle, dangle, dither, ebb and flow, equivocate, flounder, fluctuate, flutter, go through phases, hem and haw, intermit, librate, lurch, nutate, pendulate, pitch, pulsate, pulse, reappear, recur, reel, reoccur, repeat, resonate, return, revolve, ring the changes, rock, roll, roll around, rotate, seesaw, shake, shift, shilly-shally, shuffle, stagger, swag, sway, swing, teeter, teeter-totter, tergiversate, toss, totter, turn, undulate, vacillate, vary, vibrate, wag, waggle, wave, waver, wax and wane, wheel, wheel around, wobble