Definition:
v. rise and fall in or as if in waves; shift; vary irregularly
Example:
The water pressure in our shower does fluctuate wildly.
In 2014, millions of people are expected to shift between the health exchanges and Medicaid as their income fluctuates.
Sentence in Classic:
She had time to take a fresh survey of her wretchedness, and to fluctuate anew between the impulse to confide in Selden and the dread of destroying his illusions.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
ContextThy resolution may fluctuate on the wild and changeful billows of human opinion, but mine is anchored on the Rock of Ages.
No one could have kept a more accurate record of social fluctuations, or have put a more unerring finger on the distinguishing features of each season: its dulness, its extravagance, its lack of balls or excess of divorces.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
ContextMy 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 (Godwin) Shelley
ContextHis mind wavered for a whole hour in fluctuations with which there was certainly mingled some struggle.
Les Misérables (V1) By Victor Hugo
ContextThere 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.
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
ContextIt had as many ramifications as the Cretan labyrinth, as many fluctuations as the northern lights, as much colour as a parterre in June, and was as crowded with figures as a coronation.
Return of the Native By Thomas Hardy
ContextIt is a crop always salable for ready money, not usually subject to great yearly fluctuations in price, and one which the Negroes know how to raise.
The Souls of Black Folk By W. E. B. Du Bois
Context