<p><strong>noun</strong></p><ul><li>a body so suspended from a fixed point as to move to and fro by the action of gravity and acquired momentum</li><li>a swinging lever, weighted at the lower end, for regulating the speed of a clock mechanism</li><li>something that tends to move from one position, condition, etc., to the opposite extreme and then back again; e.g., "In a democratic society, the pendulum of political thought swings left and right."</li></ul>