vacillating

[ vas-uh-ley-ting ]

adjective

1. not resolute; wavering; indecisive; hesitating:

   an ineffectual, vacillating person.

   Synonyms: irresolute, hesitant

2. oscillating; swaying; fluctuating:

   a vacillating indicator.

vacillating

/ ˈvæsɪlənt; ˈvæsɪˌleɪtɪŋ /

adjective

1. inclined to waver; indecisive

Derived Forms

• ˈvacilˌlatingly, adverb

Other Words From

• vacil·lating·ly adverb
• non·vacil·lating adjective
• un·vacil·lating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vacillating¹

First recorded in 1805–15; vacillat(e) + -ing ²

Synonym Study

See fickle.

Example Sentences

Vacillating between silly and serious, the talk with Ansari is interrupted several times with giggling—most of it his own.

From The Daily Beast

Vacillating and unintelligent, his actions were all guided by his mistress, Mme Bonnemain.

From The Daily Beast

Yet the feeling is in most children weak and vacillating, and is wont to be mixed with other and less noble ones.

From Project Gutenberg

To go back on it, and at the eleventh hour, would proclaim him weak and vacillating, and the effect might be as Strachan said.

From Project Gutenberg

They could get no satisfactory answer from Aranjuez, where the vacillating, terrified, and disunited court now was.

From Project Gutenberg

It is small wonder that the measures of such a congress, when not vacillating, were weak.

From Project Gutenberg

For a moment Mrs. Horncastle was speechless and vacillating.

From Project Gutenberg