fluctuate

English

Etymology

First attested in the 1630'; borrowed from Latin flūctuātus, perfect passive participle of flūctuō (“(of the sea) to surge, swell; (of man) to waver, fluctuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflʌkt͡ʃu.eɪt/, /ˈflʌktju.eɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

fluctuate (third-person singular simple present fluctuates, present participle fluctuating, simple past and past participle fluctuated)

1. (intransitive) To vary irregularly; to swing.
2. (intransitive) To undulate.
   • 1719, William Vickers, An easie and safe method for curing the King's Evil, page 39:

     One of them, at great Expence of Algebra, proves, that the Motes, which in Scotomias, we seem to have in our Eyes, are not real Bodies fluctuating in them.

3. (intransitive) To be irresolute; to waver.

   I fluctuated between wishing he was back home and wishing I'd never met him.

4. (transitive) To cause to vary irregularly.
5. (rare, figuratively, also literally) To rise and fall as a wave; to be tossed up and down the waves.

Derived terms

• cofluctuate

Related terms

• fluctuant
• fluctuation

Translations

to vary irregularly; to swing

• Bulgarian: колебая се (kolebaja se), меня се (menja se)
• Catalan: fluctuar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 波動 / 波动 (zh) (bōdòng)

• Czech: kolísat
• Finnish: heilahdella (fi), vaihdella (fi), heittelehtiä (fi)
• French: fluctuer (fr)
• German: schwanken (de), fluktuieren (de)
• Greek: κυμαίνομαι (el) (kymaínomai)
• Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: ingadozik (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Ido: fluktuar (io)
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: manei, mānenei
• Norwegian: svinge (no), fluktuere
• Persian: نوسان کردن (navasân kardan)
• Russian: колеба́ться (ru) impf (kolebátʹsja), меня́ться (ru) impf (menjátʹsja)
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: please add this translation if you can

to undulate

• Bulgarian: меня (bg) (menja), варирам (bg) (variram)
• Catalan: fluctuar (ca)
• French: onduler (fr)
• German: please add this translation if you can
• Greek: κυμαίνομαι (el) (kymaínomai)
• Hungarian: hullámzik (hu)
• Ottoman Turkish: طالغه‌لانمق (dalgalanmak)
• Russian: меня́ться (ru) impf (menjátʹsja), варьи́ровать (ru) impf (varʹírovatʹ)
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can

to be irresolute; to waver

• Bulgarian: колебая се (kolebaja se), двоумя се (dvoumja se)
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• German: (hin und her) schwanken
• Hungarian: ingadozik (hu)
• Norwegian: please add this translation if you can

to cause to vary irregularly

• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: heilutella (fi), heilautella (fi), heitellä (fi)
• German: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: колеба́ть (ru) impf (kolebátʹ)
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can

Adjective

fluctuate (comparative more fluctuate, superlative most fluctuate) (obsolete)

1. Tossed up and down the waves.
2. (by extension) Wavering, fickle.

Latin

Verb

flūctuāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of flūctuō

Spanish

Verb

fluctuate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of fluctuar combined with te