fluc·tu·ate

(flŭk′cho͞o-āt′)

intr.v. fluc·tu·at·ed, fluc·tu·at·ing, fluc·tu·ates

To vary irregularly, especially in amount: School enrollment has fluctuated from year to year.

[Latin flūctuāre, flūctuāt-, from flūctus, a flowing, from past participle of fluere, to flow; see bhleu- in Indo-European roots.]

fluc′tu·a′tion n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fluctuation

(ˌflʌktjʊˈeɪʃən)

1. constant change; vacillation; instability

2. undulation

3. (Biology) a variation in an animal or plant that is determined by environment rather than heredity

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	fluctuation - a wave motion; "the fluctuations of the sea" undulation, wave - (physics) a movement up and down or back and forth
	2.	fluctuation - an instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change variation alteration, change, modification - an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another; "the change was intended to increase sales"; "this storm is certainly a change for the worse"; "the neighborhood had undergone few modifications since his last visit years ago" vicissitude - a variation in circumstances or fortune at different times in your life or in the development of something; "the project was subject to the usual vicissitudes of exploratory research" allomerism - (chemistry) variability in chemical composition without variation in crystalline form deviation, difference, divergence, departure - a variation that deviates from the standard or norm; "the deviation from the mean" permutation, substitution, switch, transposition, replacement - an event in which one thing is substituted for another; "the replacement of lost blood by a transfusion of donor blood" business cycle, trade cycle - recurring fluctuations in economic activity consisting of recession and recovery and growth and decline daily variation - fluctuations that occur between one day and the next diurnal variation - fluctuations that occur during each day tide - something that may increase or decrease (like the tides of the sea); "a rising tide of popular interest"
	3.	fluctuation - the quality of being unsteady and subject to changes; "he kept a record of price fluctuations" wavering unregularity, irregularity - not characterized by a fixed principle or rate; at irregular intervals scintillation - the twinkling of the stars caused when changes in the density of the earth's atmosphere produce uneven refraction of starlight

fluctuation

noun change, shift, swing, variation, instability, alteration, wavering, oscillation, alternation, vacillation, unsteadiness, inconstancy Don't worry about tiny fluctuations in your weight.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

Fluktuation

αυξομείωση διακύμανση

oscillation

fluttuazione ondeggiamento oscillazione

колебание

fluctuation

[ˌflʌktjʊˈeɪʃən] N [of prices, temperature] → fluctuación f, oscilación f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

fluctuation

[ˌflʌktʃuˈeɪʃ^ən] n

[level, temperature, weight] → variation f

[price] → fluctuation f, variation f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

fluctuation

n → Schwankung f, → Schwanken nt no pl; (in number also) → Fluktuation f; (fig, of opinions) → Schwanken nt no pl

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

fluctuation

[ˌflʌktjʊˈeɪʃ/ən] n → fluttuazione f, oscillazione f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

fluc·tu·a·tion

n. fluctuación.

1. acto de fluctuar, variación de un curso a otro;

2. sensación de movimiento ondulante producido por líquidos en el cuerpo que se percibe en un examen de palpación.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

It is remarkable that this fluctuation, whether periodical or not, appears thus to require many years for its accomplishment.

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The men of this party said and thought that what was wrong resulted chiefly from the Emperor's presence in the army with his military court and from the consequent presence there of an indefinite, conditional, and unsteady fluctuation of relations, which is in place at court but harmful in an army; that a sovereign should reign but not command the army, and that the only way out of the position would be for the Emperor and his court to leave the army; that the mere presence of the Emperor paralyzed the action of fifty thousand men required to secure his personal safety, and that the worst commander in chief if independent would be better than the very best one trammeled by the presence and authority of the monarch.

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Silas, feeling bound to accept rebuke and admonition as a brotherly office, felt no resentment, but only pain, at his friend's doubts concerning him; and to this was soon added some anxiety at the perception that Sarah's manner towards him began to exhibit a strange fluctuation between an effort at an increased manifestation of regard and involuntary signs of shrinking and dislike.

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There were three different conclusions to be drawn from his silence, between which her mind was in fluctuation; each of them at times being held the most probable.

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Some slipped a little downward, some got higher footing: people denied aspirates, gained wealth, and fastidious gentlemen stood for boroughs; some were caught in political currents, some in ecclesiastical, and perhaps found themselves surprisingly grouped in consequence; while a few personages or families that stood with rocky firmness amid all this fluctuation, were slowly presenting new aspects in spite of solidity, and altering with the double change of self and beholder.

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A little fluctuation of the wind now carried the path of the forest fire to the north, then blew back and the flames nearly stood still as though held in leash by some master hand.

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So, then the moon displays invariably the same face to the earth; nevertheless, to be quite exact, it is necessary to add that, in consequence of certain fluctuations of north and south, and of west and east, termed her libration, she permits rather more than half, that is to say, five-sevenths, to be seen.

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in this interesting city); my outgivings and incomings; wind and weather; politics and public events; fluctuations in my own health; fluctuations in Mrs.

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"Hush, friend Sancho," replied Don Quixote, "the fortunes of war more than any other are liable to frequent fluctuations; and moreover I think, and it is the truth, that that same sage Friston who carried off my study and books, has turned these giants into mills in order to rob me of the glory of vanquishing them, such is the enmity he bears me; but in the end his wicked arts will avail but little against my good sword."

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Emma watched her through the fluctuations of this speech, and saw no alarming symptoms of love.

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Hence, slow and scanty levies of men, in the most critical emergencies of our affairs; short enlistments at an unparalleled expense; continual fluctuations in the troops, ruinous to their discipline and subjecting the public safety frequently to the perilous crisis of a disbanded army.

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But the Martians were lifted above all these organic fluctuations of mood and emotion.

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