vacillate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action
    hover; vibrate; oscillate.
    • He oscillates between accepting the new position and retirement
  2. verb move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern
    fluctuate; waver.
    • the line on the monitor vacillated

WordNet

Vac"il*late transitive verb
Etymology
L. vacillare, vacillatum; cf. Skr. va&ntil;c.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Vacillated ; present participle & verbal noun Vacillating
Definitions
  1. To move one way and the other; to reel or stagger; to waver.
    [A spheroid] is always liable to shift and vacillatefrom one axis to another. Paley.
  2. To fluctuate in mind or opinion; to be unsteady or inconstant; to waver. Syn. -- See Fluctuate.

Webster 1913