Dictionary Definition
vacillate
Verb
1 be undecided about something; waver between
conflicting positions or courses of action; "He oscillates between
accepting the new position and retirement" [syn: hover, vibrate, oscillate]
2 move or sway in a rising and falling or
wavelike pattern; "the line on the monitor vacillated" [syn:
fluctuate, waver]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /ˈvæ.sə.leɪt/|/ˈvæ.sɪ.leɪt/, /"v
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
alternate, back and fill,
bob, bobble, careen, change, changeable, chop and change,
coggle, dally, dallying, dangle, demurring, dickey, dillydallying, dither, double-minded, doubtful, doubting, ebb and flow,
eccentric, equivocate, erratic, falter, faltering, fickle, fiddle-faddle, flounder, fluctuant, fluctuate, fluctuating, flutter, go through phases,
halt, halting, hang in doubt, hem and
haw, hesitant, hesitate, hesitating, inconstant, indecisive, insecure, irresolute, librate, lurch, mercurial, nutate, oscillate, oscillating, pendulate, pendulous, pitch, reel, resonate, ring the changes,
rock, roll, rootless, seesaw, shake, shaky, shift, shifting, shilly-shally,
shilly-shallying, shuffle, stagger, stop to consider,
swag, sway, swing, teeter, teeter-totter, tentative, tergiversate, think twice,
timid, toss, totter, turn, uncertain, unresolved, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, unsure, vacillating, vacillatory, vary, vibrate, volatile, wag, waggle, wave, waver, wavering, wax and wane,
weak, weak-kneed, whiffle, wigwag, wobble, wobbly