vacillate

The studio spectators cut him off with a loud, extended chorus of boos, as Colbert appeared to vacillate between laughing and choking up.

From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2025

The other is that the stock market has so many reasons to vacillate just now that tariff announcements may not matter very much.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2025

His leadership skills were lackluster, he was not a charismatic or inspiring speaker, he tended to vacillate in decision-making and he struggled to retain the best staffers.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2022

I vacillate wildly between stunned incredulity and reverent awe at what the showrunners have done here.

From The Verge ● May 12, 2022

I did not dwell on the situation at Fort Hare, but life has a way of forcing decisions on those who vacillate.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

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

Peake’s staid and knowing portrayal stands in contrast and complement to that of Petticrew, whose resolute manner vacillates between a flinty swagger and true anguish.

From Salon ● Nov. 14, 2024

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

"Common sense permits us to elude fear which always seizes those whose judgment vacillates; it removes the defiance of the Will and indicates infallibly the correct attitude to assume."

From Common Sense, How to Exercise It by Mme. Blanchard Yoritomo-Tashi

Over the next few seconds, the crew vacillated between slowing the aircraft and picking up speed to redo the landing, according to details about the flight released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

Instead, I vacillated between forgetting all about cancer some days and feeling like death was imminent others, and it was hard to predict what would prompt either extreme.

From Slate ● May 6, 2026

I vacillated frenetically between oversize and undersize clothes, ambivalent about whether I wanted to draw attention or repel it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024

My emotions vacillated from fury to giddiness to crushing depression on an hourly basis.

From Salon ● Nov. 5, 2023

My love for him vacillated from one entry to another.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

They pose the theory that the stock market is vacillating between thematic momentum and macro conditions.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

Katie spends much of the season vacillating between raging at Archie and feeling guilt over falling for his manipulative overtures.

From Salon ● May 11, 2026

Oppenheimer modulates the lighting during the scenes from cool to warm and back again, underlining the vacillating feelings they can’t acknowledge outright.

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2024

Not surprisingly, being the center of such wildly vacillating public opinion took its toll.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2023

Jam could see a whole river of things in his face, currents shifting and swelling, vacillating from grief to fury.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi