vacilar

Borrowed from Latin vacillāre.

vacilar (first-person singular present vacilo, first-person singular preterite vacilei, past participle vacilado)

1. (intransitive) to vacillate (to sway unsteadily from one side to the other)
2. (intransitive) to vacillate (to swing from one course of action or opinion to another)
3. (intransitive) to hesitate
4. (informal) to make a mistake or a wrong choice

   Synonym: bobear

5. (Brazil, idiomatic, intransitive) to behave inattentively, obliviously, or uncarefully

   Synonyms: marcar bobeira, dar bobeira, dar sopa, dar bandeira, marcar touca, moscar, panguar, brisar

• “vacilar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

From Latin vacillāre.

• IPA^(key): /baθiˈlaɾ/ [ba.θiˈlaɾ] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /basiˈlaɾ/ [ba.siˈlaɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: va‧ci‧lar

vacilar (first-person singular present vacilo, first-person singular preterite vacilé, past participle vacilado)

1. to hesitate, waver, dither (UK), vacillate

   Synonym: hesitar (rare)

2. (colloquial, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala) to enjoy

   Synonyms: disfrutar, gozar

3. (colloquial) to spy on

   Synonyms: espiar, avizorar

4. (colloquial) to banter, kid, tease, rib, trick; to play a joke on, to pull someone's leg

   Synonym: tomar el pelo

• “vacilar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• “vacilar”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010