Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Moving backward and forward like a pendulum; swinging; oscillating: as, an oscillatory movement.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Moving, or characterized by motion, backward and forward like a pendulum; swinging; oscillating; vibratory.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective that
oscillates ;oscillating - adjective capable of sustaining
oscillations
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective having periodic vibrations
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word oscillatory.
Examples
-
In systems science it is called an oscillatory system.
-
In systems science it is called an oscillatory system.
-
Thus some bolbophyl, for example, have caudal appendages to their sepals, as in Masdevallias, and on the other hand some Masdevallias have their labellums hinged and oscillatory, which is so commonly the case as to be "almost characteristic" in the genus Bolbophyllum or Sarcopodium.
-
The shock causing the most damage had at first a kind of oscillatory movement lasting over forty seconds and ending in a general upheaval of the earth; the result being that solid walls, arches, and strongly braced roofs, were broken and severed like pipe-stems.
-
But not carrying digested a laws of a spirit, they appreciate hold up in a suggestion as oscillatory, abandoned of rule, as good as strenuous to practice.
-
For Z 137, the wave function of the Dirac ground state is oscillatory, rather than bound, and there is no gap between the positive and negative energy spectra, as in the Klein paradox.
-
In this context, elementarity seems to correspond to nothing more than the choice of a particularly convenient decomposition of oscillatory behaviour.
-
The "oscillatory shaking" of dogs and other animals follows a regular back-and-forth pattern, beginning at the head and spreading to the tail.
-
But not carrying digested a laws of a spirit, they appreciate hold up in a suggestion as oscillatory, abandoned of rule, as good as strenuous to practice.
-
The energy of Potgeiter, Francois Louw and De Jongh was iced by the knowhow of Smit, Matfield, Jaque Fourie, Joe van Niekerk and Danie Rossouw, and it was Wales, who had spent the week talking themselves up, who became disjointed, the same inconsistency that made their Six Nations campaign so oscillatory.
South Africa again expose Wales' soft centre in their Cardiff backyard
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.