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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Undulation

Undulation \Un`du*la"tion\, n. [Cf. F. ondulation.]

  1. The act of undulating; a waving motion or vibration; as, the undulations of a fluid, of water, or of air; the undulations of sound.

  2. A wavy appearance or outline; waviness.
    --Evelyn.

  3. (Mus.)

    1. The tremulous tone produced by a peculiar pressure of the finger on a string, as of a violin.

    2. The pulsation caused by the vibrating together of two tones not quite in unison; -- called also beat.

  4. (Physics) A motion to and fro, up and down, or from side to side, in any fluid or elastic medium, propagated continuously among its particles, but with no translation of the particles themselves in the direction of the propagation of the wave; a wave motion; a vibration.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
undulation

1640s, from Medieval Latin *undulatio, from Late Latin undulatus "wavy, undulated," from undula "wavelet," diminutive of Latin unda "wave" (see water (n.1)).

Wiktionary
undulation

n. 1 an instance or act of undulate 2 a wavy appearance or outline; waviness 3 (context music English) a tremulous tone produced by a peculiar pressure of the finger on a string 4 a wavelike curve; a smooth and regular rise and fall 5 a wavelike motion of the air; electromagnetic radiation

WordNet
undulation
  1. n. an undulating curve [syn: wave]

  2. wave-like motion; a gentle rising and falling in the manner of waves

  3. (physics) a movement up and down or back and forth [syn: wave]

Wikipedia
Undulation

Undulation may refer to:

  • Lateral undulation, the most primitive of vertebrate locomotor patterns
  • Law of Undulation, an invention of C. S. Lewis
  • Undulation of the geoid, the separation between the geoid and the reference ellipsoid of the Earth
  • Undulation point, a point on a curve where the curvature vanishes but does not change sign.

Usage examples of "undulation".

The undulations of the peneplain had gradually become perceptible as such, next as low mounds of marl studded with broken rock, and then the land abruptly crumpled itself into a succession of barren knolls.

Three assault mechanoids were sent lurching back down the feed roads, plasmatic legs juddering in fast undulations.

Ignoring her cries and her pleas, and taking an ever-increasing pleasure in the wild undulations of her body as he forced a searing burst of ecstasy upon her, tasting the response of her body to his hunger and demand.

Senta stared at the cloth, trying to recognize what in its shimmery depths was so familiar to her, trying to see the undulations her fingers could feel.

I should say those torsades or undulations, and those spirals running from the base almost to the very tip add strength or possibly elasticity to the whole improbable structure.

Or, if we turn northward, we only find it seaming another ample fold of bogland, outspread far and far beyond Lisconnel before a grey hill-range begins to rise in slow undulations, crested with furze and broom.

Beneath the mountains were low, tent-like, cinnamoncoloured undulations, which reminded Domini of those made by a shakenout sheet, one smaller than the other till they melted into the level.

The city of Tralles was now somewhat closer than Nysa was behind, and the gently tilting undulations of the river valley which threw the Maeander into so many wandering, winding turns were flushed gold, long light upon harvest stubble.

As the paramecium glided along, its cilia moving in coordinated undulations, Alex, silent in his sneakers, followed, the tip of his nose tracing a path along the glass.

The sentience slid along the stems of rockweed, tasting brine and swaying with the undulation of the waves, but it could not travel beyond the shore, for a great submerged barrier sang it back.

The undulations in linksland provide a gently rolling landscape, with just enough movement to ask the golfer to play from sidehill, downhill, and uphill lies.

Great surprise was painted on all the countenances, and the circle of adulators and suppliants which surrounded Monk an instant before, was enlarged by degrees, and ended by being lost in the large undulations of the crowd.

Latin, nodded his head, in cadence, at every roll which La Fontaine impressed upon his body, according to the undulations of the dactyls and spondees.

If the far-flung loops of its undulations, which formed fort-like enclosures, had been straightened, it would have been much longer.

A rich yellow light englobed them, and beyond, for a backdrop, a deep green undulation of shrubs and sea grape, shaking their branches as if in mimicry.