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vacillation

UK/væsɪˈleɪʃən/US/væsɪˈleɪʃən/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — vacillate sits at #15,241Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: vacillations

Vacillation is wavering between choices without deciding. Endless vacillation.

It is always a criticism, since weighing a decision carefully gets a different word. Vacillation costs more than a wrong decision in most situations, which nobody believes at the time.

Definitions of vacillation

  1. 1nounvacillationWavering between choices without deciding.C2

    “The vacillation went on for three months.”

vacillation is a habit.

Where it comes from

Latin vacillatio, from vacillare, to sway or totter.

  1. Latin

    vacillātiō — swaying

  2. Middle English

    vacillacion

  3. English, today

    vacillation

From Middle English vacillacion, a learned borrowing from Latin vacillātiō (“swaying”). by surface analysis, vacillate + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

vacillation in the wild

  • Puccini saw Sardou's play when it was touring Italy in 1889 and, after some vacillation, obtained the rights to turn the work into an opera in 1895.

    Tosca

  • However, his acceptance of the position drew criticism from his reform colleagues, and gained him a reputation for vacillation that followed him for the rest of his career.

    John Hamilton Gray (Prince Edward Island politician)

  • Continuing dynastic strife among the Dadishkeliani, their defiance to the Russian government, and vacillation during the Crimean War, however, led to direct Russian intervention.

    Konstantine Dadeshkeliani

  • Some footholds were gained near the city but after six weeks of vacillation the allied fleet retired ignominiously on 18 September.

    HMS Somerset (1698)

  • For a combination of rashness and vacillation it excels that of any other Spanish general during the whole war.

    Juan Carlos Aréizaga

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • vacillate