changeable

[ cheyn-juh-buhl ]

adjective

1. liable to change or to be changed; variable.

   Synonyms: unstable, flighty, fickle, inconstant, erratic

2. of changing color or appearance:

   changeable silk.

changeable

/ ˈtʃeɪndʒəbəl /

adjective

1. able to change or be changed; fickle

   changeable weather

2. varying in colour when viewed from different angles or in different lights

Derived Forms

• ˈchangeably, adverb
• ˌchangeaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• changea·bili·ty changea·ble·ness noun
• changea·bly adverb
• non·changea·ble adjective
• non·changea·ble·ness noun
• non·changea·bly adverb
• unchange·a·bili·ty noun
• un·changea·ble adjective
• un·changea·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of changeable¹

Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; change, -able

Example Sentences

The rules got more confusing and more changeable, and still we tried to keep up.

From Washington Post

He’s an enigma as vast and changeable and cruel as the open sky, yet even he is capable of succumbing to enchantment, and Cumberbatch pulls off every azure-to-thundercloud shift with dazzling ease.

From Time

The bulwarks of knowledge crumble on humans’ changeable feelings.

From Nautilus

This pair comes with two extra pairs of gel ear tips that come in small and medium that are completely changeable depending on your comfort level, allowing you to listen longer without worrying about hurting your ears.

From Popular-Science

If the antibodies could bind to the stable protein “stem” instead of its changeable “head,” they could protect against any flu strain, and people wouldn’t need to get new shots year after year.

From MIT Technology Review

Even among the devout, beliefs and affiliations are startlingly changeable.

From The Daily Beast

"He was a complicated man of very intense (and sometimes changeable) friendships, passions, and causes," Fallows wrote.

From The Daily Beast

While any file can be kept viewable or changeable by only you, it can also be shared with whomever you choose to invite.

From The Daily Beast

We are a changeable people, reinventing ourselves almost compulsively.

From The Daily Beast

A court is like certain changeable colours; which vary according to the different lights they are exposed in.

From Project Gutenberg

The thought of these things is adventitious, changeable, and does not apply to permanent objects.

From Project Gutenberg

His temper is violent and changeable, but he has excellent manners and is full of tact.

From Project Gutenberg

Virtue in us is grafted upon nature and the woman; the one is changeable, the other is weak.

From Project Gutenberg

For the changeableness of changeable things, is itself capable of all those forms, into which these changeable things are changed.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• capricious
• fickle
• fluctuating
• mercurial
• protean
• shifting
• unpredictable
• unsettled
• unstable
• varying
• volatile