different between vacillate vs tessellate

English

Etymology

From Latin vacill?tum, supine form of vacill? (“sway, waver”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?væ.s?.le?t/, /?væ.s?.le?t/

Verb

vacillate (third-person singular simple present vacillates, present participle vacillating, simple past and past participle vacillated)

1. (intransitive) To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate.
   • 1910: Jack London, The Heathen

     Its [the barometer's] normal register in the Paumotus [the Tuamotus] was 29.90, and it was quite customary to see it vacillate between 29.85 and 30.00, or even 30.05; [...]

2. (intransitive) To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
   • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     On the streets of Berlin, Ruth and her compatriots vacillated "between hope and despair."

Synonyms

• (to sway from one side to the other): stagger
• (to swing indecisively): blow hot and cold, waffle

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• cavatelli, laticlave

Italian

Verb

vacillate

1. second-person plural present indicative of vacillare
2. second-person plural imperative of vacillare
3. feminine plural of vacillato

Anagrams

• cavillate

Latin

Verb

vacill?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of vacill?

English

Alternative forms

• tesselate (chiefly U.S.)

Etymology

From Latin tessellatus, from tessella, diminutive of tessera; from Ancient Greek ???????? (téssares), from Proto-Indo-European *k?etwóres.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?s?le?t/

Verb

tessellate (third-person singular simple present tessellates, present participle tessellating, simple past and past participle tessellated)

1. (transitive) To cover with tiles or stones, as a mosaic; to tile.
2. (intransitive, geometry) Of a two-dimensional shape, such that multiple copies of itself placed edge to edge cover an area leaving no space between the shapes.

   Regular hexagons tessellate.

3. (transitive, geometry) To completely fill (an area) when multiple copies of one or more two-dimensional shapes are placed edge to edge.

   It is possible to tessellate the plane with equilateral triangles and regular hexagons.

Derived terms

• tessellation

Related terms

• tessella
• tessera

Translations

See also

• tessellate on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Mosaic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Adjective

tessell?te

1. vocative masculine singular of tessell?tus