oscillation

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

oscillation
    n 1: the process of oscillating between states
    2: (physics) a regular periodic variation in value about a mean
       [syn: {oscillation}, {vibration}]
    3: a single complete execution of a periodically repeated
       phenomenon; "a year constitutes a cycle of the seasons" [syn:
       {cycle}, {oscillation}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Oscillation \Os`cil*la"tion\, n. [L. oscillatio a swinging.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. The act of oscillating; a swinging or moving backward and
      forward, like a pendulum; vibration.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Fluctuation; variation; change back and forth.
      [1913 Webster]

            His mind oscillated, undoubtedly; but the extreme
            points of the oscillation were not very remote.
                                                  --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   {Axis of oscillation}, {Center of oscillation}. See under
      {Axis}, and {Center}.
      [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

35 Moby Thesaurus words for "oscillation":
      alternation, beat, cyclicalness, equivocation, fluctuation,
      intermittence, intermittency, meter, pendulation, pendulum motion,
      periodicalness, periodicity, piston motion, pulsation,
      reappearance, recurrence, regular wave motion, reoccurrence,
      return, rhythm, seasonality, seesawing, shifting, shilly-shally,
      shilly-shallying, shuffling, teeter-tottering, teetering,
      tottering, undulation, vacillation, variation, vicissitude,
      wavering, wobbling