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fluctuate

verb
/ˈflʌkt͡ʃu.eɪt/

Etymology

First attested in the 1630'; borrowed from Latin flūctuātus, perfect passive participle of flūctuō (“(of the sea) to surge, swell; (of man) to waver, fluctuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

  1. borrowed from flūctuātus

Definitions

  1. To vary irregularly

    To vary irregularly; to swing.

  2. To undulate.

    • One of them, at great Expence of Algebra, proves, that the Motes, which in Scotomias, we seem to have in our Eyes, are not real Bodies fluctuating in them.

  3. To be irresolute

    To be irresolute; to waver.

    • I fluctuated between wishing he was back home and wishing I'd never met him.
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. To cause to vary irregularly.

    2. To rise and fall as a wave

      To rise and fall as a wave; to be tossed up and down the waves.

    3. Tossed up and down the waves.

    4. Wavering, fickle.

The neighborhood

Derived

cofluctuate

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at fluctuate. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01fluctuate02irresolute03unsure04unstable05fluctuating

A definitional loop anchored at fluctuate. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at fluctuate

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA