1
as in lurching
to make a series of unsteady side-to-side motions
as their boat seesawed in the rough water, the rescue team tried to get the passengers off the sinking ship
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in bobbing
to make short up-and-down movements
the price of the stock has been seesawing all week
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of seesawing
Jim Cramer warns investors to stay the path and avoid seesawing between the wrong narratives about the Federal Reserve needing to lower interest rates to avoid a recession.
—
Natasha Abellard, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2025
Natasha Abellard, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for seesawing
Verb
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The administration’s lurching one way and another with tariffs is another example.—
Erik Sherman,
Forbes.com,
20 Sep. 2025
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The title track opens the affair by lurching and creeping forward for ten minutes with odd, off-putting lyrics.—
Jed Gottlieb,
Boston Herald,
13 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The degree to which Celine’s bob is bobbing can’t even be measured on a human scale.—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
1 Oct. 2025
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Sylvester climbed in back, buds in his ears, iPod in hand, his head bobbing to some beat.—
David Wright Faladé,
New Yorker,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Skyrocketing housing costs may be swaying Americans from having children, contributing to plunging birth rates in the country, data suggests.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Sep. 2025
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And Bunny seemed to be swaying now slightly to our various musics.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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In Ruidoso, New Mexico, the pounding hooves of racehorses have entranced crowds from across Texas and New Mexico every summer, pumping in millions of dollars from the All-American Derby, Oaks and Futurity races and the steady hum of seasonal jobs that carry this mountain village.—
Alaa Elassar,
CNN Money,
1 Oct. 2025
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Instead of pumping in conventional air conditioning, it was surrounded by proprietary glass panes filled with cooled water.—
Tim McDonnell,
semafor.com,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Rinna appears not once, not twice, but thrice on the cover, rocking a blue mini dress paired with bright red gloves and tights.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
24 Sep. 2025
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Drake has been spotted rocking traditional German drip.—
Taylor Ardrey,
USA Today,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Not even a month had passed since his big sister, Toraya, was shot and killed at an apartment complex in New Jersey, devastating the Reid family and shaking the Timberwolves organization to its core.—
Jon Krawczynski,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
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In sixteenth-century Europe, just as Martin Luther’s ideas were shaking Catholic institutions, a far more radical movement for freedom rose up among peasants.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Seesawing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/seesawing. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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