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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

seesaw.

A structure composed of a plank, balanced in the middle, used as a game in which one person goes up as the other goes down.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsiː.sɔː/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsi.sɔ/US/ˈsiː.sɑː/cot-caught-merger
  1. A structure composed of a plank, balanced in the middle, used as a game in which one person goes up as the other goes down.

  2. The game or pastime of seesawing.

  3. A series of up-and-down movements.

    figuratively
  4. A series of alternating movements or feelings.

    figuratively
  5. An abnormal breathing pattern caused by airway obstruction, characterized by paradoxical chest and abdominal movement.

    attributive
  6. A tactic in which a piece repeatedly gains material, while simultaneously creating an inescapable series of alternating direct and discovered checks.

Where this word comes from

Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.

verb/ˈsiː.sɔː/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsi.sɔ/US/ˈsiː.sɑː/cot-caught-merger
  1. To use a seesaw.

    intransitive
  2. To fluctuate.

    broadly · figuratively · intransitive
  3. To cause to move backward and forward in a seesaw fashion.

    figuratively · transitive
Where this word comes from

Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.

adj/ˈsiː.sɔː/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsi.sɔ/US/ˈsiː.sɑː/cot-caught-merger
  1. Fluctuating.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

Probably a frequentative imitative of rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down or zigzagging motion, such as teeter-totter, zigzag, flip-flop, ping pong, etc., under the umbrella term of reduplication; also likely influenced by the verbs see and saw of either present or past tense.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.