1
as in swaying
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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of seesawing
Armchair investors have endured several stomach-churning days in March, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones averages seesawing in response to the Iran war, surging gas prices and inflation fears.
—
Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 10 Mar. 2026
The back-and-forth sent oil prices and stock markets seesawing.
—Samy Magdy, Chicago Tribune, 9 Mar. 2026
The seesawing decisions by Jones Dickson came during a hearing Monday, when Tran’s trial was expected to get underway with his case being assigned a trial judge.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 2 Mar. 2026
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
Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 10 Mar. 2026
The back-and-forth sent oil prices and stock markets seesawing.
—Samy Magdy, Chicago Tribune, 9 Mar. 2026
The seesawing decisions by Jones Dickson came during a hearing Monday, when Tran’s trial was expected to get underway with his case being assigned a trial judge.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 2 Mar. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for seesawing
Verb
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Artists and performers from across Africa wore elaborate outfits, with beads and feathers, while others had their bodies covered in colorful paint, swaying along Indigenous Yoruba rhythms.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 Apr. 2026
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The whole thing was a striking visual spectacle, too — waves of musicians rising from both sides, backup singers swaying and clapping, spotlights sweeping across the floor as a roaming camera zipped through the crowd like a drone that had just discovered country music.—
Theoden Janes,
Charlotte Observer,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The walk, which made the woodcock a viral hit on social media, consists of the bird shimmying and bobbing its head.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Apr. 2026
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That sketch spawned the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury, and the car-bobbing scene became one of the internet’s earliest viral memes.—
Ryan Brennan
April 8,
Miami Herald,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Still, morale is much worse compared with December 2024, before DOGE took aim at the health agency's budgets and staffing, and before rounds of lurching job cuts and reinstatements left thousands of CDC workers in limbo or severed from their careers.—
Pien Huang,
NPR,
25 Mar. 2026
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There are plenty of differences, but the stability Atleti have fostered in sticking with Simeone stands in stark contrast to Spurs’ habit of lurching between managers, styles and approaches.—
Dermot Corrigan,
New York Times,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Dinner is focused around a large wood burning oven, putting out deliciously charred meats and veggies, and there’s a vibrant after-work drinks scene that always has this place pumping.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
7 Apr. 2026
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Two days after that, the agency greenlit Kaskida, a new five-billion-dollar ultra-deep drilling project southwest of New Orleans, which could start pumping eighty thousand barrels of oil a day as early as 2029.—
Jeffrey Marlow,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The crowd was mostly Illini fans, and the stadium was rocking in anticipation of a dramatic comeback, shades of the 2005 Elite Eight win over Arizona.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Apr. 2026
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As Greenwell shared with Vogue in 2022, the princess wasn’t out of place among her peers when rocking blue liner, even if the look was considered daring for a member of the royal family.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
4 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Julia demonstrates how to cook a perfect little omelet without using any tools—just by shaking a pan in a magical way.—
Jeffrey Steingarten,
Vogue,
5 Apr. 2026
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Even the threat of reducing security for the Strait of Hormuz risks shaking confidence in a pillar of the world economy, as well as American wealth and power.—
Gerry Doyle,
Fortune,
5 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Seesawing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/seesawing. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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