seesaw

noun

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. (figuratively)A series of up-and-down movements.
3. (figuratively)A series of alternating movements or feelings.

   “He has been arguing in a circle; there is thus a see-saw between the hypothesis and the fact.”

   “Manchester Citykept up their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with victory over QPR in an entertaining see-saw encounter at Loftus Road.”

4. (attributive)An abnormal breathing pattern caused by airway obstruction, characterized by paradoxical chest and abdominal movement.
5. A tactic in which a piece repeatedly gains material, while simultaneously creating an inescapable series of alternating direct and discovered checks.

verb

1. (intransitive)To use a seesaw.
2. (broadly, figuratively, intransitive)To fluctuate.

   “When I think of your kisses / My mind see-saws”

3. (figuratively, transitive)To cause to move backward and forward in a seesaw fashion.

   “He see-saws himself to and fro.”

adj

1. (figuratively)Fluctuating.