vacillate

English

WOTD – 10 July 2007

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvæ.sə.leɪt/, /ˈvæ.sɪ.leɪt/

• 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.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 68:

     Courageous, patriotic, yet vacillating, many of the noblest principles and the purest intentions, men of large possessions and ancient names, under the afflicting circumstances of the times, failed to render service to their unhappy country, but involved themselves in irremediable ruin.

   • 1944 October, I. A. Horowitz, “Readers' Games”, in Chess Review:

     Though it is vital to be alert for circumstances which require a change of plan, it is fatal to vacillate.

   • 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage:

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

   • 2026 February 25, Arno Rosenfeld, “After Minneapolis, a YouTuber comes for Jewish ‘welfare queens’”, in The Forward‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 February 2026:

     Oliveira couldn’t seem to decide if the point of his videos was to make a point about welfare — he vacillates between claiming Orthodox Jews are engaged in fraud and acknowledging they legitimately qualify for programs like Medicaid and food stamps that he doesn’t think taxes should pay for, at least when it comes to large Jewish families — or to hold up the Jewish communities in Kiryas Joel and Lakewood as models for white Americans.

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

• Bulgarian: люлея се (ljuleja se), колебая се (kolebaja se)
• Catalan: vacil·lar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 搖擺不定 / 摇摆不定 (zh) (yáobǎibúdìng)

• Czech: kolísat (cs)
• Dutch: wankelen (nl)
• Finnish: horjua (fi), huojua (fi), heilua (fi)
• French: vaciller (fr)
• Georgian: რწევა (rc̣eva), რხევა (rxeva), რყევა (rq̇eva)
• German: schwanken (de)
• Greek: ταλαντεύομαι (el) (talantévomai)
• Italian: vacillare (it), ondeggiare (it), oscillare (it), sbandare (it), esitare (it)
• Korean: 흔들리다 (ko) (heundeullida)
• Latin: vacillō
• Portuguese: vacilar (pt)
• Russian: колеба́ться (ru) impf (kolebátʹsja), кача́ться (ru) impf (kačátʹsja)
• Spanish: vacilar (es), tambalear (es), tambalearse (es), trastrabillar (es), trastabillar (es)
• Turkish: sendelemek (tr), yalpalamak (tr)

to swing from one course of action or opinion to another

• Bulgarian: двоумя се (dvoumja se), не се решавам (ne se rešavam), колебая се (kolebaja se)
• Catalan: vacil·lar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 犹豫不定

• Czech: váhat (cs) impf
• Dutch: weifelen (nl)
• Finnish: horjua (fi), epäröidä (fi), soutaa ja huovata
• French: hésiter (fr)
• Georgian: ყოყმანი (q̇oq̇mani), მერყეობა (merq̇eoba)
• German: schwanken (de)
• Greek: ταλαντεύομαι (el) (talantévomai)
• Greenlandic: nakimavoq
• Icelandic: bera kápuna á báðum öxlum
• Italian: dubitare (it)
• Korean: 흔들리다 (ko) (heundeullida)
• Latin: duabus sellis sedeo, aestuō (la), vacillō
• Māori: tātāu
• Portuguese: vacilar (pt)
• Russian: колеба́ться (ru) impf (kolebátʹsja)
• Spanish: vacilar (es), titubear (es)
• Turkish: bocalamak (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} hejîn (ku)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• cavatelli, laticlave

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

vacillate

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

Etymology 2

Participle

vacillate f pl

1. feminine plural of vacillato

Anagrams

• cavillate, vellicata

Latin

Verb

vacillāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of vacillō