vacillate

English

WOTD - 10 July 2007    

Etymology

From Latin vacillātum, supine form of vacillō (“sway, waver”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈvæ.sə.leɪt/, /ˈvæ.sɪ.leɪt/, SAMPA: /"v{.s@.leIt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

vacillate (third-person singular simple present vacillates, present participle vacillating, simple past and past participle vacillated)

1. (intransitive) To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate.
   • 1910: Jack London, The Heathen

     Its [the barometer's] normal register in the Paumotus [the Tuamotus] was 29.90, and it was quite customary to see it vacillate between 29.85 and 30.00, or even 30.05; [...]

2. (intransitive) To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
   • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     On the streets of Berlin, Ruth and her compatriots vacillated "between hope and despair."

Synonyms

• (to sway from one side to the other): stagger
• (to swing indecisively): blow hot and cold, waffle

Related terms

• vacillant
• vacillating
• vacillation
• vacillator
• vacillatory

Translations

to sway unsteadily from one side to the other

Catalan: vacil·lar (ca) Finnish: horjua (fi), huojua (fi), heilua (fi)

French: vaciller (fr) Portuguese: vacilar (pt)

to swing from one course of action or opinion to another

Catalan: vacil·lar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 犹豫不定 (zh) Finnish: horjua (fi), epäröidä (fi), soutaa ja huovata (fi) French: hésiter (fr)

Greenlandic: nakimavoq (kl) Icelandic: bera kápuna á báðum öxlum (is) Latin: duabus sellis sedeo (la), aestuō (la) Portuguese: vacilar (pt)

to be changeable, or inconsistent in speech or action

Catalan: vacil·lar (ca) Finnish: epäröidä (fi), horjua (fi), soutaa ja huovata (fi)

Portuguese: vacilar (pt)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Kurdish: hejîn (ku) Spanish: vacilar (es), vacilarse

External links

• vacillate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• vacillate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• vacillate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• cavatelli

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Italian

Verb

vacillate

1. second-person plural present indicative of vacillare
2. second-person plural imperative of vacillare
3. Feminine plural of vacillato

Anagrams

• cativella, cavillate

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Latin

Verb

vacillāte

1. first-person plural present active imperative of vacillō