Word.ws English Dictionary

vacillated

vacillated is the simple past and past participle of vacillate.

Meaning of vacillate

Verb

vacillate (third-person singular simple present vacillates, present participle vacillating, simple past and past participle vacillated)

  1. (intransitive) To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate.
    • Its [the barometer's] normal register in the Paumotus [the Tuamotus] was 29.90, and it was quite customary to see it vacillate between 29.85 and 30.00, or even 30.05; […]1910, Jack London, The Heathen
    Synonyms:
    stagger
  2. (intransitive) To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
    • Courageous, patriotic, yet vacillating, many of the noblest principles and the purest intentions, men of large possessions and ancient names, under the afflicting circumstances of the times, failed to render service to their unhappy country, but involved themselves in irremediable ruin.1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 68

Questions about vacillated

What is vacillated the simple past and past participle of?
Vacillated is the simple past and past participle of vacillate.

Words near vacillated in the dictionary

  1. Vachon
  2. vacillancies
  3. vacillancy
  4. vacillant
  5. vacillate
  6. vacillated
  7. vacillates
  8. vacillating
  9. vacillatingly
  10. vacillatings
  11. vacillation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vacillated (page history and authors); vacillate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “vacillated.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vacillated. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.