Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense seesaws, present participle seesawing, past tense, past participle seesawed
1. countable noun
A seesaw is a long board which is balanced on a fixed part in the middle. To play on it, a child sits on each end, and when one end goes up, the other goes down.
There was a sandpit, a seesaw and a swing in the playground.
2. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
In a seesaw situation, something continually changes from one state to another and back again.
...a seesaw price situation.
...the seesaw way of politics.
Seesaw is also a noun.
Marriage, however, is an emotional seesaw.
3. verb
If someone's emotions see-saw, or a particular situation see-saws, they continually change from one state to another and back again.
The Tokyo stock market see-sawed up and down. [VERB]
Synonyms: alternate, swing, fluctuate, teeter More Synonyms of seesaw
seesaw in British English
(ˈsiːˌsɔː)
noun
1.
a plank balanced in the middle so that two people seated on the ends can ride up and down by pushing on the ground with their feet
2.
the pastime of riding up and down on a seesaw
3.
a.
an up-and-down or back-and-forth movement
b.
(as modifier)
a seesaw movement
verb
4. (intransitive)
to move up and down or back and forth in such a manner; oscillate
Word origin
C17: reduplication of saw1, alluding to the movement from side to side, as in sawing
seesaw in American English
(ˈsiˌsɔ)
noun
1.
a plank balanced on a support at the middle, used by children at play, who ride the ends so that when one goesup, the other comes down
2.
the act of riding a plank in this way
3.
any up-and-down or back-and-forth movement or change, as in the lead in a competition
adjective
4.
moving up and down or back and forth
verb transitive, verb intransitive
5.
to move on or as on a seesaw
Word origin
redupl. of saw1: from the action of sawing
Examples of 'seesaw' in a sentence
seesaw
Its sound is a seesaw that will throw the piper further into Death, even as it brings the listener into Life.
Garth Nix LIRAEL: DAUGHTER OF THE CLAYR (2001)
And these men were political prisoners, who knew but what, in the seesaw way of politics, some of them might be in office sometime?
Harvey, John COUP D'ETAT (2001)
The boat's prow tilted up like the high end of a seesaw, hovered for a moment in the air, then dropped into the white current.
John Colapinto ABOUT THE AUTHOR (2001)
In other languages
seesaw
British English: seesaw /ˈsiːˌsɔː/ NOUN
A seesaw is a long board which is balanced on a fixed part in the middle. To play on it, a child sits on each end, and when one end goes up, the other goes down.
There was a sandpit, a seesaw and a swing in the playground.
American English: seesaw
Arabic: أُرْجُوحة
Brazilian Portuguese: gangorra
Chinese: 跷跷板
Croatian: klackalica
Czech: houpačka podepřená uprostřed
Danish: vippe
Dutch: wip
European Spanish: balancín columpio
Finnish: keinulauta
French: bascule
German: Wippe
Greek: τραμπάλα
Italian: altalena
Japanese: シーソー
Korean: 시소
Norwegian: dumpehuske
Polish: huśtawka
European Portuguese: balancé
Romanian: balansoar
Russian: детские качели в виде доски, уравновешенной в центре
Latin American Spanish: columpio
Swedish: gungbräde
Thai: แผ่นกระดานหก
Turkish: tahterevalli
Ukrainian: гойдалка
Vietnamese: bập bênh
Chinese translation of 'seesaw'
seesaw
(ˈsiːsɔː)
n(c)
跷(蹺)跷(蹺)板 (qiāoqiāobǎn)
vi
反复(復)多变(變) (fǎnfù duōbiàn)
(verb)
Definition
to move up and down or back and forth alternately
The stock-market see-sawed up and down.
Synonyms
alternate
Moments of beauty alternate with slapstick comedy.
swing
The vote could swing again.
fluctuate
Body temperatures can fluctuate when you are ill.
teeter
They are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
oscillate
She oscillated between elation and despair.
go from one extreme to the other
Additional synonyms
in the sense of fluctuate
Definition
to change frequently and erratically
Body temperatures can fluctuate when you are ill.
Synonyms
change,
swing,
vary,
alter,
hesitate,
alternate,
waver,
veer,
rise and fall,
go up and down,
ebb and flow,
seesaw
in the sense of oscillate
Definition
to waver between two extremes of opinion, attitude, or behaviour