erratically
Americanadverb
-
in a way that deviates from what is normal or proper.
When other employees noticed she was behaving erratically, the store installed cameras and caught her stealing pills.
-
without any definite direction or pattern; in an irregular or inconsistent way.
The cyclone moved erratically westward and southward for two days while slowly strengthening into a tropical storm.
Since I was fourteen I've kept a journal, albeit somewhat erratically at times.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of erratically
First recorded in 1610–20; erratic ( def. ) + -ally ( def. )
Explanation
If you do something erratically, you do it in an arbitrary or irregular way. Driving erratically is a good way to get pulled over by a traffic cop. A new bike rider might pedal erratically up and down the street, swerving and stopping suddenly. Or, your anxiety about getting an important grade could make you behave erratically, chewing your nails nervously one minute and laughing loudly the next. Things that are erratic are uneven or unpredictable, and the Latin root is erraticus, "wandering, straying, or roving."
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.
Shortly after, deputies responded to reports of a man acting erratically on the football field at Newbury Park High School, about a mile away.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
“Markets can gyrate and change their opinions regularly, erratically, and are often quite wrong,” said Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, in emailed comments Friday.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 14, 2026
Here, they defended erratically and were predictable going forward.
From BBC • Jan. 24, 2026
Nick Reiner, who lived in a guest property at his parents' home, had attended comedian Conan O'Brien's glitzy party on Saturday, December 13 with his parents, where some attendees reportedly spoke of his behaving erratically.
From Barron's • Jan. 7, 2026
The wind, however, was gusting erratically out of the west, quartering across the racecourse at roughly a forty-five-degree angle, pushing in bursts and fits at the starboard side of the shell.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
