Vacillate vs Flounder - What's the difference?
vacillate | flounder |
To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate.
* 1910:
To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
* 2004: , Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage
A European species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, European flounder, .
(North America) Any of various flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae or Bothidae.
A bootmaker's tool for crimping boot fronts.
(rfi, the bootmaker's tool)
To flop around as a fish out of water.
To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance.
To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
* Sir W. Hamilton
* 1996 , , Virago Press, paperback edition, page 136
In lang=en terms the difference between vacillate and flounder
is that vacillate is to swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another while flounder is to act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.As verbs the difference between vacillate and flounder
is that vacillate is to sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate while flounder is to flop around as a fish out of water.As a noun flounder is
a european species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, european flounder,.vacillate
English
Verb
(vacillat)- Its [the barometer's] normal register in the Paumotus [the Tuamotus] was 29.90, and it was quite customary to see it vacillate between 29.85 and 30.00, or even 30.05; [...]
- On the streets of Berlin, Ruth and her compatriots vacillated "between hope and despair."
Synonyms
* (to sway from one side to the other) stagger * (to swing indecisively) blow hot and cold, waffleExternal links
* * *Anagrams
* ----flounder
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) floundre, from . Cognate with Danish flynder, German Flunder, Swedish flundra.Noun
(en-noun)External links
* (wikipedia "flounder")Etymology 2
Possibly from the noun. Possibly from (founder) or from (etyl) . See other terms beginning with fl , such as (flutter), (flitter), (float), (flap), (flub), (flip)Verb
(en verb)- Robert yanked Connie's leg vigorously, causing her to flounder and eventually fall.
- They have floundered on from blunder to blunder.
- He gave a good speech, but floundered when audience members asked questions he could not answer well.
- He is assessing directions, but he is not lost, not floundering .