fickle
Americanadjective
-
likely to change, especially due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable.
fickle weather.
- Synonyms:
- fitful, capricious, variable, unsteady, unstable
-
not constant or loyal in affections.
a fickle lover.
- Synonyms:
- inconstant
adjective
Synonym Usage
Fickle, inconstant, capricious, vacillating describe persons or things that are not firm or steady in affection, behavior, opinion, or loyalty. Fickle implies an underlying perversity as a cause for the lack of stability: the fickle seasons, disappointing as often as they delight; once lionized, now rejected by a fickle public. Inconstant suggests an innate disposition to change: an inconstant lover, flitting from affair to affair. Capricious implies unpredictable changeability arising from sudden whim: a capricious administration constantly and inexplicably changing its signals; a capricious and astounding reversal of position. Vacillating means changeable due to lack of resolution or firmness: an indecisive, vacillating leader, apparently incapable of a sustained course of action.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fickle
First recorded before 1000; Middle English fikel, Old English ficol “deceitful,” akin to fācen “treachery,” (be)fician “to deceive,” fǣcne “deceitful,” gefic “deception”
Explanation
People who are fickle change their minds so much you can't rely on them. If your best friend suddenly decides that she doesn't like you one week, and then the next week she wants to hang out again, she's being fickle. Fickle comes from the Old English word ficol, for deceitful. We usually use fickle to talk about people, but it can also be used for abstract things that alternately favor you and abuse you, like the weather. If you win the lottery and then lose everything else in the world that's important to you, fate is being fickle.
Vocabulary lists containing fickle
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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Even More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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The Things They Carried
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Outflanked by cruel and fickle gods at every turn, legendary Greek hero Odysseus outsmarted a one-eyed giant, suffered through the bewitching Sirens’ song and braved the Underworld’s dead denizens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
"It was life-changing in the short term. But you know how fickle everything is," Willis said.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Clark said SpaceX may one day justify such a valuation but "momentum, euphoria, and hype is a fickle beast, and this market is out of line across many stocks for now."
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
This is a fickle market, considering that Broadcom reported a 48% increase in sales for its fiscal second quarter from the year-earlier quarter, along with an 85% increase in earnings per share.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
The other was a fickle thing, popping out at the most inconvenient times, rolling across the forest floor and picking up debris.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
