The Word of the Day

undulate \UN-juh-layt\ verb
1 : to form or move in waves : fluctuate
*2 : to rise and fall in volume, pitch, or cadence
3 : to present a wavy appearance

Example sentence: The opera singer's voice undulated as she expressed the grief and despair of the song.

Did you know? "Undulate" and "inundate" are word cousins, sharing "unda," the Latin word for "wave," as their common ancestor. No surprise there. But would you have guessed that "abound," "surround," and "redound" are also "unda" offspring? The connection between "unda" and these words is easier to see when you learn that at some point in their early histories each of them essentially had the meaning of "to overflow," just as "inundate" (which can mean either "to overflow" or "to overwhelm") does. Today that connection is obscured, since the "overflow" senses of the words are, well, down the drain.