Undulate — This SAT Vocabulary Word Is Making Waves
Test yourself to better yourself: UNDULATE most nearly means to go: A) to and fro; B) side to side; C) here or there; D) up and down
Say UNDULATE slowly — un-juh-layt — and you can almost feel the rolling motion built right into the syllables.
When I think of undulate, I picture wheat fields rippling in the wind, a snake gliding across warm sand, or ocean swells rolling towards the shore.
📚️ Definition of Undulate
Undulate (verb): To move with a smooth, continuous, wave-like motion, rising and falling in a flowing, rhythmic pattern; to have a wavy form or outline. Example: waves that undulate gently.
🗣️ Pronunciation of Undulate
IPA: /ˈʌn.djə.leɪt/ (See IPA key)
Respelling: UN-juh-layt
📰 Examples of Undulate
Here are some examples of the word undulate:
The magician’s scarf seemed to undulate on its own, a testmament to the performer’s years of practice.
Snakes move using a form of locomotion scientists call lateral undulation. Laypeople can call it this as well!
Have you ever seen spectators perform a wave at a stadium? That’s an undulation.
🎨 Vocab Card
For paid subscribers, I offer a custom image to help remember the word. You can see myriad examples of the graphics I make to illustrate the words in the archives.
Short quiz answer: D. I thought about this a bit, and I know the others are close, but D is the closest answer.
Here you go. May you remember UNDULATE forever.
🧠 Summary of Undulate
Definition: Undulate means to move with a smooth, continuous, wave-like motion — rising and falling in a rhythmic and flowing pattern.
Real-world connection: You’ll find undulation everywhere — in ocean swells, rolling landscapes, the movement of snakes and jellyfish, sound waves in physics class, and even the way a crowd sways at a concert. It’s a nice word used in many contexts.
SAT relevance: Undulate is a strong vocabulary-in-context candidate — it could appear in science passages about wave mechanics, in literary passages describing landscapes or movement, or as an answer choice testing your knowledge of vivid, descriptive verbs.