Meaning

2 senses

  1. (intransitive)To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate.

    schwanken

    колеба́тьсяkolebátʹsja, кача́тьсяkačátʹsja

  2. (intransitive)To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

    schwanken

    колеба́тьсяkolebátʹsja

More definitions
  • move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern
  • be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action

Examples

4 sentences

  1. After a lot of vacillating, I agreed to his request.

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  2. We would appreciate if the council would stop vacillating and make a choice already.

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  3. Support for the bill vacillated.

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  4. Unsure of which suitor she wanted to marry, the princess vacillated, saying now one, now the other.

    deUnsicher, welchen Freier sie heiraten wollte, schwankte die Prinzessin und nannte einmal den einen, einmal den anderen.

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Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 1
to sway unsteadily from one side to the other:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
to sway unsteadily from one side to the other:

Origin

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

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

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

vacillates, vacillating, vacillated, vacillated
Base formvacillate · to vacillate
3rd person singularvacillates
Present participlevacillating
Past simplevacillated
Past participlevacillated

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyvacillate
he, she, itvacillates

Past simpleLesson

all personsvacillated

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave vacillated
he, she, ithas vacillated

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill vacillate

Synonyms

8 synonyms
to sway from one side to the other:staggerC1
to swing indecisively:blow hot and coldwaffle
Close in meaning
  • move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern:fluctuatewaver
  • be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action:hovervibrateoscillate

Word family

6 related words
Relatedvacillantvacillatingvacillationvacillatorvacillatory
Derivedvacillative

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
vaccinationvaccineB2vacuousvacuumvada
vacillate — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto