fickle
[fik-uh l]
- likely to change, especially due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable: fickle weather.
- not constant or loyal in affections: a fickle lover.
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Origin of fickle
before 1000; Middle English fikel, Old English ficol deceitful, akin to fācen treachery, fician to deceive, gefic deception
Synonyms
See more synonyms for fickle on Thesaurus.com1. unstable, unsteady, variable, capricious, fitful. 2. inconstant. 1, 2. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fickle
Contemporary Examples
Those of us who live here are a fickle bunch with fleeting attention spans.
This points the fickle finger of guilt at the White House itself.
At the very least, the fickle and discerning moviegoer is getting a vibrant diagnosis: healthier than ever.
And sales, those tricky little figures so dependent on the wants and whims of a fickle public, were impeded for that very reason.
Plus, social media users are also notoriously trendy and fickle.
Historical Examples
She did not understand the workings of Pee-wee's active and fickle mind.
Pee-wee HarrisPercy Keese Fitzhugh
Vere, Artois thought, might be violent, but would not be fickle.
A Spirit in PrisonRobert Hichens
Of these the forms should be fixed, and not allowed to depend on the fickle breath of the multitude.
LawsPlato
It is a fickle ally at best, and to rely on its support is to lean on a split reed.
England and GermanyEmile Joseph Dillon
It was all over, and he had to bear the loss of the fickle girl as best he might.
fickle
- changeable in purpose, affections, etc; capricious
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Word Origin
Old English ficol deceitful; related to fician to wheedle, befician to deceive
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fickle
adj.
c.1200, probably from Old English ficol "deceitful, cunning, tricky," related to befician "deceive," and to facen "deceit, treachery." Common Germanic (cf. Old Saxon fekan "deceit," Old High German feihhan "deceit, fraud, treachery"), from PIE *peig- "evil-minded, treacherous, hostile" (cf. Latin piget "it irks, troubles, displeases," piger "reluctant, lazy"). Sense of "changeable" is first recorded late 13c. Related: Fickleness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper