vacillating 1 of 2

adjective

as in irresolute

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vacillating

2 of 2

verb

present participle of vacillate
as in hesitating
to show uncertainty about the right course of action vacillated for so long that someone else stepped in and made the decision

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of vacillating
Adjective
This is the Alcaraz who is unbeatable, a man who cut out the vacillating streaks in his game that derailed him in Melbourne and Wimbledon. — Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
That has had a ripsaw effect on Musk, who is now vacillating between being the world’s first active trillionaire and the world’s first former-trillionaire. — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 2 July 2026 Legally an adult but still a teenager and finding your footing in the world, vacillating between feeling invincible and feeling minuscule. — Bailey Johnson, Washington Post, 21 June 2026 The status of further peace talks and other key details of the current relationship between the warring powers have grown increasingly opaque, with Trump vacillating between resuming saber-rattling rhetoric and indicating Washington’s readiness for additional negotiations with Iran. — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 21 Apr. 2026 Trump has been more active than ever on social media in his second term, including posting lengthy all-caps screeds offering vacillating updates on the war. — Alexander Smith, NBC news, 30 Mar. 2026 This hesitation was not the result of vacillating between options in indecision, but an active and regulated brain process to pause before acting due to environmental uncertainty. — Eric Yttri, The Conversation, 12 Feb. 2026 Virginia Ritter spent most of her of the rest of her life vacillating between empathy and anger for her daughter's killer, all the while serving as a fierce victims' rights advocate in Nashville. — Brad Schmitt, Nashville Tennessean, 11 Nov. 2025 By the end of March 2018 Aydın seemed unsure whether to try to clear his name or lay low, vacillating between the two strategies. — Moisés Naím, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025 The actress' create a world that engulfs you into their faux-showbusiness drama, a world of women vacillating between supporting each other and backstabbing to get themselves ahead, with striking performances that led to Oscar nominations for Davis, Ritter, Holm and Baxter. — Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 27 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vacillating
  1. irresolute
  2. hesitating
  3. uncertain
  4. faltering
  5. unsure
  6. wobbly
  7. undecided
  8. ambivalent
Adjective
  • Both Fortune and Harris express having great empathy for the protagonist, who was an insecure girl that had an irresolute boyfriend and made a grave mistake.
    — Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 11 June 2026
  • Where Trump is unrelenting and single-minded, the justices have been inconsistent and unpredictable, and therefore appear irresolute.
    — Noah Feldman, Twin Cities, 24 Dec. 2025
Definition of irresolute
Verb
  • The book does often feel like a recording of a mental jam session, but there is also a sense of being guided by a kind of hesitating yet urgent voice that needs to get things figured out.
    — Craig Morgan Teicher, Literary Hub, 1 June 2026
  • While their rivals started spending significant sums of money as soon as the 2024-25 season finished, Spurs wasted a couple of weeks hesitating about the long-term future of then head coach Ange Postecoglou before replacing him with Thomas Frank.
    — David Ornstein, New York Times, 29 May 2026
Definition of hesitating
Adjective
  • Supporters suggest these approaches could offer alternative financing structures, while critics note that long-term performance and adoption remain uncertain.
    — Jason Phillips, USA Today, 10 July 2026
  • The more proactive, in contrast, would try to steer government R&D toward promising but uncertain conservation experiments.
    — Taylor Dotson, Scientific American, 10 July 2026
Definition of uncertain
Verb
  • Chris Jung | Nurphoto | Getty Images Shares of Nvidia have been faltering recently — and Kalshi traders predict that what the company can charge for chips is also declining.
    — Ananya Chetia, CNBC, 22 June 2026
  • After faltering in last year’s Div.
    — Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 30 May 2026
Definition of faltering
Adjective
  • Essentially, markets believe that interest rates will rise in 2026 but are unsure of both the magnitude and timing.
    — Simon Moore, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
  • Engineers are unsure of the condition of Swift’s thermal insulation, and ground controllers will take a cautious approach to determining where and when Link’s robotic arms can capture the satellite.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 6 July 2026
Definition of unsure
Adjective
  • Fewer and fewer companies offer pensions, however, making that stool increasingly wobbly.
    — Trina Paul,Dan Avery, CNBC, 10 July 2026
  • June’s tepid hiring comes after a relative surge in job gains the previous three months, countering concerns that the war in Iran could trip up an already wobbly labor market.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 July 2026
Definition of wobbly
Adjective
  • Give yourself permission to be undecided, even if just for the time being.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 3 July 2026
  • Real-world error includes sources of error beyond sampling error, such as nonresponse bias, coverage error, late shifts among undecided voters and error in estimating the composition of the electorate.
    — New York Times, New York Times, 1 July 2026
Definition of undecided
Adjective
  • The time may have passed for the Kremlin to consider the White House ambivalent as to the fate of Europe.
    — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 6 July 2026
  • After all, the feature debut of Swiss director and writer Jan-Eric Mack features an ambivalent main character, namely a single mother who doesn’t fit neatly into categories of black or white and good or evil.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 3 July 2026
Definition of ambivalent

Browse Nearby Words

vacillates
vacillating
vacillation
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Cite this Entry

“Vacillating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vacillating. Accessed 13 Jul. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of vacillating for Spanish Speakers

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