fickle

[fik-uhl]

adjective

1. likely to change, especially due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable.

   fickle weather.

   Synonyms: fitful, capricious, variable, unsteady, unstable

2. not constant or loyal in affections.

   a fickle lover.

   Synonyms: inconstant

fickle

/ ˈfɪkəl /

adjective

1. changeable in purpose, affections, etc; capricious

Other Word Forms

• fickleness noun
• unfickle adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fickle¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English fikel, Old English ficol “deceitful,” akin to fācen “treachery,” (be)fician “to deceive,” fǣcne “deceitful,” gefic “deception”

Word History and Origins

Origin of fickle¹

Old English ficol deceitful; related to fician to wheedle, befician to deceive

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The fickle Fulcrum of Fortune had seesawed back again, this time with Penelope on the upward-bound seat.

Read more on Literature

Yet the rules of segregation could also be fickle.

Read more on Literature

That inevitably means she needs to stay on top of her country’s fickle trade relationship with the U.S.

Read more on Barron's

Mr. Hegseth conceded that the problem is partially driven by a fickle Pentagon that, for example, buys a handful of munitions one year and then suddenly wants hundreds.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Of course, workarounds External link are inevitable, and a notoriously fickle president could certainly change his stance.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• capricious 
• changeable 
• flighty 
• temperamental 
• unpredictable 
• unstable 
• volatile