as in irresolute
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Dissimilar Words
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
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Recent Examples of vacillating
Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
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
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
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
Adjective
-
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
-
Downtown, in his studio at the corner of White and Cortlandt Alley, on a Thursday evening in late July, Wyeth sat on his stool and considered the irresolute underpainting on his canvas.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Right now, Taylor said, both sides are hesitating.—
Rachel Barber,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
-
Walgreens isn’t hesitating to close stores in parts of Chicago where theft is frequent and there are legitimate concerns about the safety of employees and customers.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
6 May 2026
Adjective
-
Hulse felt both hopeful and uncertain.—
Clayton Dalton,
New Yorker,
15 May 2026
-
What was once a slow and uncertain flow of prospective officers has evolved into a steady stream of qualified candidates, producing record-sized recruit classes.—
Joy Lepola-Stewart,
Baltimore Sun,
14 May 2026
Verb
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Tangent The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board specifically calls out declining pandemic preparedness funding as a result of faltering political attention.—
Mary Whitfill Roeloffs,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
-
With most tropical reefs expected to face conditions like the Gulf’s by 2100—and already faltering under increasingly frequent marine heat waves—that makes the Gulf’s coral a source of valuable genetic information about resilience that could have implications for the rest of the world’s reefs.—
Meghan Bartels,
Scientific American,
14 May 2026
Adjective
-
When workers are unsure whether the technology is meant to augment them or replace them, adoption slows, experimentation stops, and the conditions under which AI actually returns value disappear.—
Julie Averill,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
-
The vets also took X-rays, but since wood is hard to see on an X-ray, the professionals were still unsure how far the stick had impaled Sweets.—
Kelli Bender,
PEOPLE,
15 May 2026
Adjective
-
Kearney estimates that nearly half of those in the high-income bracket may be so over-extended that they are dangerously exposed to rising interest rates, stock market gyrations, and a wobbly jobs market.—
Greg Petro,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2026
-
On Iran, neither Washington nor Beijing wants the prolonged instability in global energy markets that the war and the subsequent wobbly cease-fire have caused.—
Vivian Salama,
The Atlantic,
14 May 2026
Adjective
-
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,
21 May 2026
-
Trump’s sagging approval rating comes as Democrats have a chance at outperforming Republicans in midterms, with an Emerson poll taken in late April showing Democrats with a 10-point advantage on the generic congressional ballot, though 10% of voters are undecided.—
Sara Dorn,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2026
Adjective
-
This page has very mixed feelings about that subsidy, but is not similarly ambivalent about Chicago’s desperate need to get the wheels of development turning again.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
14 May 2026
-
Each hippo has its own habitat, but the animals have been introduced at a distance and seem ambivalent toward one another for now.—
Moná Thomas,
PEOPLE,
6 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Vacillating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vacillating. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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