Library / English Dictionary

UNDULATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a wavy margin and rippled surface

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

smooth (of the margin of a leaf shape; not broken up into teeth)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Increase and decrease in volume or pitch, as if in waves

Example:

The singer's voice undulated

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "undulate" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion

Example:

the waves rolled towards the beach

Synonyms:

flap; roll; undulate; wave

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "undulate" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "undulate"):

luff (flap when the wind is blowing equally on both sides)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

undulation ((physics) a movement up and down or back and forth)

undulation (wavelike motion; a gentle rising and falling in the manner of waves)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Stir up (water) so as to form ripples

Synonyms:

cockle; riffle; ripple; ruffle; undulate

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "undulate" is one way to...):

flow; flux (move or progress freely as if in a stream)

"Undulate" entails doing...:

fold; fold up; turn up (bend or lay so that one part covers the other)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Occur in soft rounded shapes

Example:

The hills rolled past

Synonyms:

roll; undulate

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

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