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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Synonym Usage

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

On Friday I act Bizarre in "The Inconstant," and think I shall find it great fun....

From Records of a Girlhood by Kemble, Fanny

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.

As a vulture rapacious, in falsehood a fox, Inconstant as waves, and unfeeling as rocks, As a tiger ferocious, perverse as a hog, In mischief an ape, and in fawning a dog.

From History of English Humour, Vol. 2 by L'Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingan

Inconstant Night, whate'er thy changes be, It suits not man to be alone with thee.

From Poems, &c. (1790) Wherein It Is Attempted To Describe Certain Views Of Nature And Of Rustic Manners; And Also, To Point Out, In Some Instances, The Different Influence Which The Same Circumstances Produce On Different Characters by Baillie, Joanna

He added, that he had a relation who was a gunner on board the Inconstant, a brig belonging to Napoleon, and that he should be very glad to see him again.

From Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815, Vol. I by Fleury de Chaboulon, Pierre Alexandre Édouard, baron