Vacillation

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /væsɪˈleɪʃən/

Definitions

1. The process of indecisively oscillating between various options or viewpoints
2. The condition characterized by persistent uncertainty and a lack of firm decisions among alternatives
3. The act of repeatedly changing one's opinion or decision in an uncertain manner

Etymology: The Latin verb "vacillare" meant to sway, totter or waver, and the sense it carried was physical before it was ever mental: a tottering body, a swaying branch. Its noun "vacillātiō" named that swaying itself. English took the word in the Middle Ages as "vacillacion," a learned borrowing, so the image of unsteadiness came first and the image of an indecisive mind followed later. The modern sense, changing one's opinion or decision again and again, grows naturally from that picture. A person whose mind keeps tipping from one choice to another is swaying in the same way a tottering figure does, so the metaphor of physical wobble carried over intact into the language of the will.

Synonyms: indecision, hesitation, wavering

Antonyms: decisiveness, certainty