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vacillate

va·cil·late

UK/ˈvæ.sə.leɪt/ US/ˈvæ.sɪ.leɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action

  • “He oscillates between accepting the new position and retirement”
2.

move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern

  • “the line on the monitor vacillated”

Origin

From Latin vacillātum, supine form of vacillō (“sway, waver”). By surface analysis, Latin vacill- + -ate.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.