VACILLATION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Vacillation

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/vˌæsəlˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Vacillation n.

The act of vacillating; a moving one way and the other; a wavering. "His vacillations, always exhibited most pitiably in emergencies."

Unsteadiness of purpose; changeableness. "There is a vacillation, or an alternation of knowledge and doubt."

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Etymology of 'Vacillation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Vacillation" Quotes from Famous Books

... you echo my words! I observe, too, a vacillation in your step—a joyous inquietude in your eyes. You are confused and oppressed by the majestic novelty of the Life Eternal. Yes, it was of Death I spoke. And here how singularly sounds that word which of old was wont to bring terror to all hearts—throwing ...

— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 4 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... am well-nigh mad." Later on he adds: "It has been my object, through you and your authority, to execute vengeance for myself and you too, letting malignant fellows know that there are other demigods alive beside Raffael da Urbino and his 'prentices." The vacillation of Leo in this business, and his desire to make things pleasant, are characteristic of the man, who acted just in the same way while ...

— The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti • John Addington Symonds

... countenance seemed in some measure to abate. He took the course which was pursued by the greater number of the company. But these, as he proceeded, branched of right and left to their several homes, and as the street became vacant, his restlessness and vacillation re-appeared. Seized at length as with panic, he hurried on with every mark of agitation, until he had plunged into one of the most noisome and pestilential quarters, or rather suburbs of the town. Here a number of the most abandoned of the populace ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. • Various

... said "Yes," albeit with all his past vacillation and his present distrust of her, transparent on his cheek and ...

— Cressy • Bret Harte

... beginning and ending a loss of the working power, which can neither start on a new career at full speed, nor arrest itself without previous slackening. This waste is made still greater by the suspense or vacillation of purpose of those who not only have no settled plans of industry, but often know not what to do, or are liable, so soon as they are occupied in one way, to feel themselves irresistibly ...

— A Manual of Moral Philosophy • Andrew Preston Peabody

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