Librate
[LAHY-brayt]
Part of speech: verb
Origin: Latin, 17th century
1.
Oscillate or seem to oscillate.
Examples of Librate in a sentence
"The wind was so strong that tall buildings were seen to librate against the sky."
"Traditional metronomes librate to keep a beat."
About Librate
“Librate” comes from the Latin “lībrāta,” meaning “balance.” That term comes from the root “lībra,” meaning “a balance.”
Did you Know?
“To librate” means “to oscillate,” but the word also has a secondary definition of “to be poised; to balance oneself,” related to the Latin root meaning “balance.” Before electronic scales, weight was measured using balance scales, a device that consists of two pans attached to an oscillating bar that moves up and down until both pans are equal in weight and come into balance. The oscillating movement of this traditional balance — or “lībra,” as it was known in ancient Rome — is what the oscillating verb “librate” describes.
