Library / English Dictionary

OSCILLATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move or swing from side to side regularly

Example:

the needle on the meter was oscillating

Synonyms:

oscillate; vibrate

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "oscillate" is one way to...):

sway; swing (move or walk in a swinging or swaying manner)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "oscillate"):

hunt (oscillate about a desired speed, position, or state to an undesirable extent)

librate (vibrate before coming to a total rest)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

oscillation (a single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon)

oscillation ((physics) a regular periodic variation in value about a mean)

oscillatory (having periodic vibrations)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action

Example:

He oscillates between accepting the new position and retirement

Synonyms:

hover; oscillate; vacillate; vibrate

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "oscillate" is one way to...):

hesitate; waffle; waver (pause or hold back in uncertainty or unwillingness)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "oscillate"):

shillyshally (be uncertain and vague)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

oscillation (the process of oscillating between states)

Credits

 Context examples: 

But no one stopped it, and he was glad, punching on wearily and endlessly with his one arm, battering away at a bloody something before him that was not a face but a horror, an oscillating, hideous, gibbering, nameless thing that persisted before his wavering vision and would not go away.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)