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Glite Dictionary
🔄 To swing repeatedly 🤔 To change opinions
to oscillate

to oscillate

8 6.5
Move back and forth in a steady rhythm like a fan
  • verb
  • /ˈɑːsɪleɪt/
: oscilar
  • OK, so here, here's a here are some things that will oscillate, right?
  • waves oscillate
  • oscillating torque
  • neutrinos oscillated

Otherwise basically this LCR stage is going to start to oscillate, right?

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Examples

  • They differ in frequency, meaning how many times per second they oscillate.

    After Death (2023)

  • Maybe it does something crazy, oscillates, starts to grow again.

  • And then you go back into silence again, and you oscillate between the two.

  • You could just like oscillate back and forth and maybe reserve that gratitude part.

  • And that's bad because the the circuit does tend to oscillate very easily.

  • But the numbers in this main bulb will, they end up oscillating back and forth between two values.

  • You notice each wave acts as if it's a pressure wave and its amplitude oscillates, as shown here.

  • When he pauses, only the whir of the oscillating wall fans can be heard.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Energizing the stator causes the rotor to oscillate between the two positions.

    Academic text (1995)

  • The key to a good clock is a pendulum that oscillates at a constant rate.

Synonyms

to vibrate
vsto oscillate
104 2.8

To make very small, quick moves back and forth

is a regular larger swing rather than quick, tiny shaking
to sway
vsto oscillate
80 2.4

To move slowly from side to side in a gentle rhythm

is focused on regular rhythm rather than slow, gentle motion
rocking
vsto oscillate
36 1.9

Moving gently back and forth or side to side in a regular way

is neutral rhythmic movement and not necessarily gentle
oscillating
vsto oscillate
  • Specialized
5 6.2

Moving back and forth in a regular way

is the verb form used for the same action
to vacillate
vsto oscillate
1 8.4

To move slowly back and forth like a boat or kite

is a steady back-and-forth rhythm not a wavelike rise and fall
to hunt
vsto oscillate
  • Specialized
1 8.8

To move back and forth instead of staying steady

is the general regular swing used in many contexts not only machines
to librate
vsto oscillate
9.9

Move back and forth a little before stopping

moves continuously in a regular rhythm without implying stopping

Antonyms

to stabilize
  • US
44 4.3

To become steady and stop changing

How Vigorous

to shake
750 1.0
to swing
267 1.0
to oscillate
8 6.5
to vibrate
104 2.8
to tremble
144 2.5
to sway
80 2.4

Surface Forms

oscillate infinitive
oscillated past
oscillated past participle
oscillating present participle
oscillates third person singular

Morphology

oscillate = oscill + ate

The stem 'oscill-' is a Latinate combining form not a standalone English word, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from the components even though '-ate' is a verb-forming suffix.

Etymology

Oscillate comes from the Latin oscillare, which means 'to swing'. Think of a fan or a pendulum moving back and forth in a steady way, and that is why oscillate means 'to move or swing back and forth in a regular rhythm'.