as in hesitation
a state or an instance of temporary inaction because of uncertainty about the right course of action
the president was soundly criticized for his vacillation before responding to the crisis
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Examples of vacillation in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Espinosa’s Billy Jay is also a huge asset: His vacillation between cornfed, charming-despite-yourself naïveté and furtive, ambitious, even possibly sinister unknowability is—perhaps a little ironically—the play’s most compelling character arc.
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Sara Holdren, Vulture, 8 May 2024
Indian vacillation will convince U.S. officials that despite their best efforts, New Delhi is either incapable of mustering the requisite political will to build a long-term security partnership with Washington or reluctant to do so.
—Sumit Ganguly, Foreign Affairs, 20 June 2023
In many ways, the international community’s inability to stop the escalating violence in Syria is reminiscent of the deadlock and vacillation over intervening in Bosnia in the 1990s.
—Jon Western, Foreign Affairs, 26 Mar. 2013
Gray whales seem to have gone through these more dramatic vacillations, enduring three different periods of major mortalities and bouncing back before the most recent five-year event.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for vacillation 
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 8 May 2024
Indian vacillation will convince U.S. officials that despite their best efforts, New Delhi is either incapable of mustering the requisite political will to build a long-term security partnership with Washington or reluctant to do so.
—Sumit Ganguly, Foreign Affairs, 20 June 2023
In many ways, the international community’s inability to stop the escalating violence in Syria is reminiscent of the deadlock and vacillation over intervening in Bosnia in the 1990s.
—Jon Western, Foreign Affairs, 26 Mar. 2013
Gray whales seem to have gone through these more dramatic vacillations, enduring three different periods of major mortalities and bouncing back before the most recent five-year event.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for vacillation
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vacillation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Vacillation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vacillation. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.
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