FLUCTUATING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fluctuating mean? 

• FLUCTUATING (adjective)
  The adjective FLUCTUATING has 1 sense:

1. having unpredictable ups and downs

  Familiarity information: FLUCTUATING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLUCTUATING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having unpredictable ups and downs

Context example:

fluctuating prices

Similar:

unsteady (subject to change or variation)

 Context examples 

Her affections had continually been fluctuating but never without an object.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Historical term for a chronic, but fluctuating, disorder beginning in early life and characterized by recurrent and multiple somatic complaints not apparently due to physical illness.

(Hysteria, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The late George Gaylord Simpson, a geoscientist at UA and an influential evolutionary thinker of the last century, proposed that these fluctuating dependencies should determine the speed of evolution.

(Colorful bird feathers offer evolutionary clues, National Science Foundation)

Her family had of late been exceedingly fluctuating.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

But her temper was fluctuating; joy for a few instants shone in her eyes, but it continually gave place to distraction and reverie.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Better understanding of the phenomenon’s effect on crops could help farmers diversify to more adaptable crops such as tuber vegetables or sorghum, and adopt farming practices to cope with fluctuating weather patterns.

(El Niño linked to widespread crop failures, SciDev.Net)

Known as whistler mode chorus, these waves are created by fluctuating electric and magnetic fields.

(FIREBIRD II and NASA Mission Locate Whistling Space Electrons’ Origins, NASA)

My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I think that voice held him most with its fluctuating, feverish warmth because it couldn't be over-dreamed—that voice was a deathless song.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)