| / English Dictionary |
FLUCTUATION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The quality of being unsteady and subject to changes
Example:
he kept a record of price fluctuations
Synonyms:
fluctuation; wavering
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("fluctuation" is a kind of...):
irregularity; unregularity (not characterized by a fixed principle or rate; at irregular intervals)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fluctuation"):
scintillation (the twinkling of the stars caused when changes in the density of the earth's atmosphere produce uneven refraction of starlight)
Derivation:
fluctuate (be unstable)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change
Synonyms:
fluctuation; variation
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("fluctuation" is a kind of...):
alteration; change; modification (an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fluctuation"):
vicissitude (a variation in circumstances or fortune at different times in your life or in the development of something)
allomerism ((chemistry) variability in chemical composition without variation in crystalline form)
departure; deviation; difference; divergence (a variation that deviates from the standard or norm)
permutation; replacement; substitution; switch; transposition (an event in which one thing is substituted for another)
business cycle; trade cycle (recurring fluctuations in economic activity consisting of recession and recovery and growth and decline)
daily variation (fluctuations that occur between one day and the next)
diurnal variation (fluctuations that occur during each day)
tide (something that may increase or decrease (like the tides of the sea))
Derivation:
fluctuate (move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A wave motion
Example:
the fluctuations of the sea
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Hypernyms ("fluctuation" is a kind of...):
undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)
Derivation:
fluctuate (move or sway in a rising and falling or wavelike pattern)
fluctuate (cause to fluctuate or move in a wavelike pattern)
Context examples:
The fluctuations were due to macroeconomic factors such as variations in the international price of sugar.
(Ethanol to gasoline switch raises nanoparticles in air, SciDev.Net)
The observed temporal fluctuations also resemble the processes by which the brain becomes alert or returns to calm.
(Neuromorphic Metallic Nanowire Network Shows Human Brain-Like Functions, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
The newly identified 57 variants of the DLC1 gene were clearly associated with the fluctuation in oxygen levels during sleep.
(Researchers identify genetic variations linked to oxygen drops during sleep, National Institutes of Health)
There 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)
The planet was discovered by observing periodic fluctuations in the star's apparent brightness as NGTS-1b passed in front of it.
(Astronomers report dwarf star with unexpectedly giant planet, Wikinews)
Rapid fluctuations in scattering intensity, around a mean value at a certain angle, occur because of particle diffusion and are dependent upon on particle size.
(Photon Correlation Spectroscopy, NCI Thesaurus)
An artifact that appears as a point to point signal fluctuation in a uniform material.
(Noise Artifact, NCI Thesaurus)
'Twistron' yarns have many possible applications, such as harvesting energy from the motion of ocean waves or from temperature fluctuations.
(Energy-Harvesting Yarns Generate Electricity, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Magnetism in two dimensions is almost against the laws of physics due to the destabilising effect of fluctuations, but in this material, it seems to be true.
(‘Magnetic graphene’ switches between insulator and conductor, University of Cambridge)
During cell migration calpain1 (mu-calpain) acts at the leading edge as a response to integrin signals or calcium fluctuations due to the stretch activated calcium channels.
(Calpain-2 Cell Motility Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)
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