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Want of decision; want of settled purpose, or of firmness; indetermination; wavering of mind; irresolution; vacillation; hesitation. The term indecision . . . implies an idea very nicely different from irresolution; yet it has a tendency to produce it. Shenstone. Indecision . . . is the natural accomplice of violence.…

Undetermined; prone to indecision; irresolute; unsettled; wavering; vacillating; hesitating; as, an indecisive state of mind; an indecisive character.

Want of determination; an unsettled or wavering state, as of the mind. Jer. Taylor.

Not resolute; not decided or determined; wavering; given to doubt or irresolution. Weak and irresolute is man. Cowper.

Wavering; unstable; doubtful. [R.] "A pendulous state of mind." Atterbury.

Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune. "Wavering a pretty while." Evelyn.

termine, as something which is exposed to doubt or question; to free from unscertainty or wavering; to make sure, firm, or constant; to establish; to compose; to quiet; as, to settle the mind when agitated; to settle questions of law; to settle the succession to a throne; to settle an allowance. It will settle the wave…

Fig.: To move from firmness; to weaken the stability of; to cause to waver; to impair the resolution of. When his doctrines grew too strong to be shook by his enemies, they persecuted his reputation. Atterbury. Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced. Milton.…

Wavering; unsettled; inconstant. [Obs.] Holland.

To give a shock to; to cause to shake or waver; hence, to strike against suddenly; to encounter with violence. Come the three corners of the world in arms, And we shall shock them. Shak. A shall never forget the force with which he shocked De Vipont. Sir W. Scott.

purpose; constant; firm in resolution; not easily diverted from a purpose; not fickle or wavering; as, a man of stable character. And to her husband ever meek and stable. Chaucer.

To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Rom. iv. 20.

Not fickle or wavering; constant; firm; resolute; unswerving; steady. "Steadfast eye." Shak. Abide steadfast unto him [thy neighbor] in the time of his trouble. Ecclus. xxii. 23. Whom resist steadfast in the faith. 1 Pet. v. 9.

Constant in feeling, purpose, or pursuit; not fickle, changeable, or wavering; not easily moved or persuaded to alter a purpose; resolute; as, a man steady in his principles, in his purpose, or in the pursuit of an object.

Wavering, or liable to waver and fall at the slightest touch; unstable; easily overthrown. [Obs.] Thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders, that a milkmaid, if she be in love, may sigh it off. Shak.

To shake; to reel; to lean; to waver. Troy nods from high, and totters to her fall. Dryden.

To walk in a wavering, unsteady manner; to toddle; to topple. [Colloq.]

Steady in adhering to friends, to promises, to a prince, or the like; unwavering; faithful; loyal; not false, fickle, or perfidious; as, a true friend; a wife true to her husband; an officer true to his charge. Thy so true, So faithful, love unequaled. Milton. Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie. Herbert.…

To render unstable or wavering; to unsettle; as, to unhinge one's mind or opinions; to unhinge the nerves. Why should I then unhinge my brains, ruin my mind South. His sufferings, nay the revolutions of his fate, had not in the least unhinged his mind. Walpole.

The quality or state of being vacillant, or wavering. [R.] Dr. H. More.