FLUCTUATION
Dictionary entry overview: What does fluctuation mean?
• FLUCTUATION (noun)
The noun FLUCTUATION has 3 senses:
1. a wave motion
2. an instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change
3. the quality of being unsteady and subject to changes
Familiarity information: FLUCTUATION used as a noun is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
• FLUCTUATION (noun)
Meaning:
A wave motion
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Context example:
the fluctuations of the sea
Hypernyms ("fluctuation" is a kind of...):
undulation; wave ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)
Meaning:
An instance of change; the rate or magnitude of change
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Synonyms:
variation; fluctuation
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))
Meaning:
The quality of being unsteady and subject to changes
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Synonyms:
wavering; fluctuation
Context example:
he kept a record of price fluctuations
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)
