vacillate (vasilat)

i.; pret. and pp. vacil lated, ppr. vacillating. [ It. vacillare = Pg. vacillar = Sp. vacilar = F. vaciller ), sway to and fro, vacillate; a dim. or freq. form, prob. akin to Skt. ✓ vank, go tortuously, be crooked, vakra, bent: see wag.] 1. To waver; move one way and the other; reel; stagger. But whilst it [a spheroid] turns upon an axis which is not permanent, it is always liable to shift and vacil late from one axis to another. Paley , Nat. Theol., xxii. 2. To fluctuate in mind or opinion; waver; be irresolute or inconstant. A self-tormentor he continued still to be, vacillating between hope and fear. Southey , Bunyan, p. 30. IMG:content-1668.png:[blocks in formation] =Syn. 1 and 2. Waver, Oscillate, etc. (see fluctuate ), sway. 2. To hesitate. vacillatingly (vas'i-la-ting-li), adv. In a vacillating manner; unsteadily; fluctuatingly. vacillation (vas-i-lā'shon), n. [Formerly also vacilation; IMG:content-1669.png:[blocks in formation]