oscillate

English

Etymology

First attested in 1726; borrowed from Latin ōscillātus, perfect passive participle of Latin ōscillō (“to swing”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ōscillum (“a swing”), usually identified with ōscillum (“a little face or mask hung on a tree that sways with the wind”), diminutive of ōs (“mouth, face”). Doublet of osculate.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɑsɪleɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

oscillate (third-person singular simple present oscillates, present participle oscillating, simple past and past participle oscillated)

1. (intransitive) To swing back and forth, especially if with a regular rhythm.

   A pendulum oscillates slower as it gets longer.

   • 2021 December, “Snap Circuits Classic”, in Snap Circuits‎^[1], Elenco, page 27:

     By placing the 0.02μF capacitor on top of the whistle chip, the circuit oscillates at a lower frequency.

2. (intransitive) To vacillate between conflicting opinions, etc.

   The mood for change oscillated from day to day.

3. (intransitive) To vary above and below a mean value.

Synonyms

• vacillate

Derived terms

• oscillative
• oscillaton
• oscillator
• unoscillated

Related terms

• oscillation

Translations

to swing back and forth, especially if with a regular rhythm

• Bulgarian: вибрирам (bg) (vibriram), осцилирам (bg) (osciliram)
• Catalan: oscil·lar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 振盪 / 振荡 (zh) (zhèndàng)

• Czech: kmitat, oscilovat
• Estonian: võnkliikuma
• Finnish: värähdellä (fi), heilua (fi), oskilloida (fi)
• French: osciller (fr)
• Galician: oscilar (gl)
• German: schwingen (de), pendeln (de), oszillieren (de), vibrieren (de), zittern (de), changieren (de)
• Greek: ταλαντεύομαι (el) (talantévomai), διακυμαίνομαι (el) (diakymaínomai), αιωρούμαι (el) (aioroúmai)
• Hawaiian: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: תָּנַד m (tanad), תָּנְדָה f (tanda), הִתְנוֹדֵד (he) m (hitnoded), הִתְנוֹדְדָה (he) f (hitnodeda)
• Hungarian: oszcillál (hu)
• Irish: ascalaigh
• Italian: oscillare (it)
• Japanese: 振動する (ja) (しんどうする, shindō-suru)
• Māori: piupiu, kōpiupiu
• Polish: oscylować impf
• Portuguese: oscilar (pt)
• Romanian: oscila (ro)
• Russian: колеба́ться (ru) impf (kolebátʹsja), кача́ться (ru) impf (kačátʹsja), осцилли́ровать (ru) impf (oscillírovatʹ)
• Slovene: nihati impf, zanihati pf
• Spanish: oscilar (es)
• Swedish: pendla (sv)
• Ukrainian: осцилювати (oscyljuvaty), колива́тися (kolyvátysja)
• Welsh: osgiliadu

See also

• undulate

Further reading

• “oscillate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “oscillate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “oscillate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Tesla coil, lactisole, localites, teocallis

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

oscillate

1. inflection of oscillare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

oscillate f pl

1. feminine plural of oscillato

Anagrams

• alcoliste, costellai, escatolli, scolliate, sollecita, solletica