fluctuate means tossed up and down the waves. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 76 out of 100.
fluctuate is pronounced /ˈflʌkt͡ʃu.eɪt/.
Etymology
First attested in the 1630'; borrowed from Latin flūctuātus, perfect passive participle of flūctuō (“(of the sea) to surge, swell; (of man) to waver, fluctuate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
adj
- Tossed up and down the waves.
- Wavering, fickle.
verb
- To vary irregularly; to swing.
- To undulate.“One of them, at great Expence of Algebra, proves, that the Motes, which in Scotomias, we seem to have in our Eyes, are not real Bodies fluctuating in them.”
- To be irresolute; to waver.“I fluctuated between wishing he was back home and wishing I'd never met him.”
- To cause to vary irregularly.
- To rise and fall as a wave; to be tossed up and down the waves.