A weight suspended from a pivot that swings freely back and forth under the influence of gravity. Used metaphorically to describe something that alternates between extremes.
From Latin 'pendulus' meaning 'hanging down,' from 'pendere' meaning 'to hang.' The word entered English in the 17th century during the scientific revolution when Galileo studied pendular motion.
Galileo discovered that pendulums keep perfect time regardless of how wide they swing - a principle that revolutionized clockmaking and navigation. The pendulum metaphor perfectly captures how societies, politics, and even personal moods swing between extremes before finding balance.
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