undulation

English

Etymology

undulate +‎ -ion, or borrowed from Medieval Latin undulātiō; compare French ondulation.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

undulation (countable and uncountable, plural undulations)

1. An instance or act of undulating.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 77):

     But the next undulation would raise us, showing the island ablaze in the sunlight, an emerald of dazzling beauty resting lightly on the bosom of the sea.

2. A wavy appearance or outline; waviness.
3. (music) A tremulous tone produced by a peculiar pressure of the finger on a string.
4. A wavelike curve; a smooth and regular rise and fall.
5. A wavelike motion of the air; electromagnetic radiation.
6. (medicine, dated) A feeling as if of an undulatory motion about the heart.
7. (medicine, dated) The distinctive motion of the matter within an abscess on being pressed when it is ripe for opening.

Derived terms

• undulationist

Translations

instance or act

• Finnish: aaltoilu (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: zafalowanie n

a tremulous tone produced by a peculiar pressure of the finger on a string

• Finnish: aaltomaisuus
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

appearance or outline

• Polish: falistość (pl) f
• Russian: волнистость (ru) f (volnistostʹ)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: vågformighet c

a wavelike curve; a smooth and regular rise and fall

• Finnish: aaltomaisuus
• Maori: rainga
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: волнистость (ru) f (volnistostʹ), неро́вность (ru) f (neróvnostʹ) поверхности (ru) f (poverxnosti)
• Swedish: vågformighet c

wavelike motion

• Finnish: aaltoilu (fi)
• Polish: falowanie (pl) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Slovene: valovanje n
• Swedish: vågrörelse (sv) c, böljegång c, vågsvall n

References

• “undulation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.