Oscillation

//ˌɑː.səˈleɪ.ʃən// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    the act of oscillating or the state of being oscillated countable, uncountable

    "The trial running tests which were made with the vehicles showed that they ride very steadily laterally, with almost complete absence of oscillation at all speeds."

  2. 2
    a single complete execution of a periodically repeated phenomenon wordnet
  3. 3
    a regular periodic fluctuation in value about some mean countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    (physics) a regular periodic variation in value about a mean wordnet
  5. 5
    a single such cycle countable, uncountable
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    the process of oscillating between states wordnet
  2. 7
    (of a function) defined for each point x in the domain of the function by inf diam(f(U))∣Uisaneighborhoodofx, and describes the difference (possibly ∞) between the limit superior and limit inferior of the function near that point. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
alternationbeatconstancycontinuitycyclecycle

Example

More examples

"Not a great deal of energy is required for keeping a free moving pendulum in a state of oscillation."

Etymology

From French oscillation, from Latin oscillatio, from Latin oscillo. By surface analysis, oscillate + -ion.

Related phrases

limit inferiorlimit superior

More for "oscillation"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.