oscillate
verb
os·cil·late
| \ ˈä-sə-ˌlāt
\
\
oscillated;
oscillating
Definition of oscillate
1a
: to swing backward and forward like a pendulum
The fan was oscillating.
b
: to move or travel back and forth between two points
he oscillates regularly between his comfortable home … and his downtown office-laboratory— Gladwin Hill
2
: to vary between opposing beliefs, feelings, or theories
The mood of the voters has oscillated between optimism and pessimism.
3
: to vary above and below a mean value
Bank rate oscillates between 2 and 6 percent.
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Other Words from oscillate
oscillatory
\ ˈä-sə-lə-ˌtȯr-ē
\
adjective
\
adjective
Examples of oscillate in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Indeed, Gregor oscillates between the kind and vicious versions of this story. — David Canfield, EW.com, "Going Dutch is a hilarious, feverish deconstruction of gay millennial life," 19 Aug. 2019 The stories oscillate between mysterious, dark and, at times, humorous, to paint a complicated picture of the dynamics between men and women. — Annabel Gutterman, Time, "Barack Obama Shares His 2019 Summer Reading List," 14 Aug. 2019 Johnson oscillated between supporting either leaving or remaining, before throwing his weight suddenly behind the Leave campaign. — Natasha Frost, Quartz, "No, Boris Johnson isn’t the UK’s Donald Trump," 25 July 2019 Inside a sprawling midcentury modern house in the West Hollywood hills, Mereba and her lover oscillate between silence and bursts of fleeting joy through a black and white filter. — Lauren Valenti, Vogue, "Rising Singer Mereba Serves Up Regal Beauty in Her New “Sandstorm” Music Video," 9 July 2019 Quartz crystals oscillate at a regular frequency when electrical current passes through them, which is why they are used to in clocks to keep track of time. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "How a Toaster-Sized Atomic Clock Could Pave the Way for Deep Space Exploration," 26 June 2019 In a particular 24-dimensional string theory world, the j-function’s coefficients capture how strings can oscillate, while the monster controls the underlying symmetry. — Quanta Magazine, "Moonshine Link Discovered for Pariah Symmetries," 22 Sep. 2017 American history doesn’t arc toward justice so much as oscillate in its general vicinity. — Charles King, Washington Post, "The anthropologists who upended the ‘science’ of white supremacy," 2 Aug. 2019 Their lyrics tend to oscillate between the lachrymose and megalomaniacal. — Jacob Mikanowski, Harper's magazine, "The Call of the Drums," 21 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oscillate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for oscillate
oscillate
verb
English Language Learners Definition of oscillate
: to move in one direction and then back again many times
formal
: to keep changing from one belief, feeling, condition, etc., to an opposite one
technical
: to change in strength or direction regularly
See the full definition for oscillate in the English Language Learners Dictionary
oscillate
verb
os·cil·late
| \ ˈä-sə-ˌlāt
\
\
oscillated;
oscillating
Kids Definition of oscillate
: to swing or move back and forth between two points
oscillate
intransitive verb
os·cil·late
| \ ˈäs-ə-ˌlāt
\
\
oscillated;
oscillating
Medical Definition of oscillate
1
: to swing backward and forward like a pendulum
2
: to move or travel back and forth between two points
Other Words from oscillate
oscillatory
\ ˈäs-ə-lə-ˌtōr-ē, -ˌtȯr-
\
adjective
\
adjective
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