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
Related Words
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
- fickleness noun
- unfickle adjective
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”
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.
CEOs, in turn, pursue strategies against apathetic indexers or fickle traders who chase hot stocks and flee at the first hint of trouble.
From Barron's
Meanwhile, yanking the plans for the old frigate class from a Wisconsin shipyard will compound the dysfunction in U.S. shipbuilding, which is driven in part by a fickle Pentagon.
Like a fickle breeze, no sooner does Mr. Winchester get blowing than he changes course.
“A bunch got signed, but you know, fame is a fickle thing, and you never know what might get played on the radio.”
From Los Angeles Times
The fickle Fulcrum of Fortune had seesawed back again, this time with Penelope on the upward-bound seat.
From Literature
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.
