Oscillatory

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by regular back-and-forth movement or fluctuation between different states or positions
2. Pertaining to a repetitive swinging motion or variation among distinct conditions or states
3. Describing a consistent pattern of alternating movement or periodic change between various phases or positions

Etymology: Oscillatory comes from "oscillare", Latin for "to swing" or "to swing like a child on a swing", a verb derived from "oscillum", a small swing or a mask hung from a tree. Ancient Roman festivals of Bacchus were sometimes marked by these hanging masks, which swayed in the wind, and the word's first sense was therefore literal motion back and forth. English borrowed the root as the noun "oscillation" in the early 1600s, used for swinging motion in physical bodies, and the adjective "oscillatory" followed in the 1700s as a descriptive term for anything that moves in that to-and-fro way. Its meaning stayed closely tied to physical swinging, and the more abstract senses developed later as scientists applied the idea to vibrations, waves and electrical currents.

Synonyms: vibratory, swinging, waving, pulsating, fluctuating

Antonyms: steady, constant, uniform, static, fixed