inconstant

American  

[in-kon-stuhnt] / ɪnˈkɒn stənt /

adjective

1. not constant; changeable; fickle; variable.

   an inconstant friend.

   Synonyms:

   volatile, mercurial, mutable, uncertain, unsettled, unstable, undependable, vacillating, capricious, moody

   Antonyms:

   steady

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inconstant British  

/ ɪnˈkɒnstənt /

adjective

1. not constant; variable

2. fickle

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Related Words

See fickle.

Other Word Forms

• inconstancy
  noun
• inconstantly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of inconstant

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Latin inconstant- (stem of inconstāns ) “changeable.” See in- ³, constant

Explanation

Anything that's inconstant changes all the time. Don’t give your heart to an inconstant friend because she might get distracted and drop it. The moon is inconstant, with all that waxing and waning, but we love it anyway. You can't exactly count on things — or people — that are inconstant, since they vary or waver so much. Someone who's inconstant is fickle or even undependable. An inconstant friend might promise to come to your party and then fail to show up because she suddenly felt like going bowling instead. When the weather is inconstant, you don’t know what to wear. The Latin root is inconstantem, "changeable or capricious."

Example Sentences

Ph�dra long has fix’d a heart Inconstant once, nor need she fear a rival.

From Dramatic Technique by Baker, George Pierce

Inconstant thou art, as the dew of the morn, Or a cloud of the night on the blast!

From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume III The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century by Rogers, Charles

The same year saw the publication of the not very successful expansion of one of these eclogues into the pastoral narrative in verse, entitled 'Omphale or the Inconstant Shepherdesse.'

From Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration Stage in England by Greg, Walter W.

Or the two following, the Inconstant Man, and Lycas or the Firm Man: 'Such a man seems really to possess more than one character.

From Critical Miscellanies (Vol 2 of 3) Essay 1: Vauvenargues by Morley, John

In 1702 he borrowed from Fletcher’s Wild Goose Chase, The Inconstant, or the Way to win Him, in which he followed his original fairly closely except in the last act.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various