different between oscillate vs sway

English

Etymology

From Latin ?scill?tus, perfect passive participle of Latin ?scill? (“swing”), from ?scillum (“a swing”), usually identified with ?scillum (“a little face or mask hung on a tree that sways with the wind”), diminutive of ?s (“mouth, face”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /??s?le?t/

Verb

oscillate (third-person singular simple present oscillates, present participle oscillating, simple past and past participle oscillated)

1. (intransitive) To swing back and forth, especially if with a regular rhythm.

2. (intransitive) To vacillate between conflicting opinions, etc.

3. (intransitive) To vary above and below a mean value.

Synonyms

• vacillate

Derived terms

• oscillator

Related terms

• oscillation

Translations

See also

• undulate

Further reading

• oscillate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• oscillate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• oscillate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Tesla coil, lactisole, localites, teocallis

Italian

Verb

oscillate

1. second-person plural present indicative of oscillare
2. second-person plural imperative of oscillare
3. feminine plural of oscillato

Anagrams

• alcoliste
• costellai
• scolliate
• sollecita
• solletica

English

Etymology

Earlier swey (“to fall, swoon”), from Middle English sweyen, from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, bow”), from Proto-Germanic *swaigijan? (compare Saterland Frisian swooie (“to swing, wave, wobble”), Dutch zwaaien, Dutch Low Saxon sweuen (“to sway in the wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *sweh?- (compare Lithuanian sva?gti (“to become giddy or dizzy”), the second element of Avestan ????????????????????-????????????????????????????? (paⁱri-šxuaxta, “to surround”), Sanskrit ?????? (svájate, “he embraces, enfolds”).

The noun derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sw?, IPA^(key): /swe?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

sway (countable and uncountable, plural sways)

1. The act of swaying; a swaying motion; a swing or sweep of a weapon.
2. A rocking or swinging motion.

3. Influence, weight, or authority that inclines to one side
4. Preponderance; turn or cast of balance.
5. Rule; dominion; control; power.
6. A switch or rod used by thatchers to bind their work.
7. The maximum amplitude of a vehicle's lateral motion.

Translations

Verb

sway (third-person singular simple present sways, present participle swaying, simple past and past participle swayed)

1. To move or swing from side to side; or backward and forward; to rock.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

2. To move or wield with the hand; to swing; to wield.
3. To influence or direct by power, authority, persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. Compare persuade.

   • This was the race / To sway the world, and land and sea subdue.
4. To cause to incline or swing to one side, or backward and forward; to bias; to turn; to bend; warp.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of being Religious

     Let not temporal and little advantages sway you against a more durable interest.

5. (nautical) To hoist (a mast or yard) into position.

6. To be drawn to one side by weight or influence; to lean; to incline.
   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     The balance sways on our part.

7. To have weight or influence.
   • 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie

     The example of sundry churches […] doth sway much.

8. To bear sway; to rule; to govern.

Derived terms

• asway

Translations

See also

• persuade

Anagrams

• -ways, Yaws, ways, yaws