vacillates

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It is closer to music than epic, a mesmerizing suite of songs that conveys Tennyson’s private sorrow as he vacillates from unbearable agony to precarious hope.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

When the conspiracy at the center of “The Chair Company” consumes the life of Ron Trosper, he vacillates between screaming fury and the type of validation that lights up his smile from the inside.

From Salon • Oct. 13, 2025

Driven by a dark kineticism, it vacillates between contempt and gratitude at a velocity that catches my husband, my therapist, even me off-guard.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 3, 2024

As the score vacillates between rhythmic, melodic passages and warped dissonance, they look at times like they’re trying to worm their way out of their bodies.

From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2023

Between these ifs he vacillates, swung like a ship on stormy waters, touching heaven and hell.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, No. 14, December 1858 by Various