fluctuate

Meanings

1. To vary irregularly; to swing.
2. To undulate.
3. To be irresolute; to waver.
4. To cause to vary irregularly.
5. To rise and fall as a wave; to be tossed up and down the waves.

1. Tossed up and down the waves.
2. Wavering, fickle.

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).