unreliable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unreliable
Explanation
Someone unreliable can't be trusted to do something. Things can be unreliable too, like a bike with a wobbly wheel. The word "rely" is a clue to what unreliable means. When you can rely on something, you can count in it — it's reliable. On the other hand, you'd better not count on an unreliable person. People can be unreliable because they're dishonest, always late, bad at their job, or just inconsistent. Things can be unreliable because they're broken or old. A train schedule can be unreliable if the trains are never on time. Unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff in life that's unreliable, so be careful.
Vocabulary lists containing unreliable
STAAR English I: Elements of Literature
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STAAR English II: Elements of Literature 1
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Point of View
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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.
“Slop,” executives declared, a total of 17 times, during a call with investors this past week, portraying the outputs of the major AI labs as too messy and unreliable for big enterprises.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
Rooney would also start James on the right side of defence this summer, despite calling the 26-year-old "unreliable" as a full-back.
From BBC • May 8, 2026
His second day of testimony in federal court in Oakland, California grew testy at times, as OpenAI's lawyers sought to portray the Tesla tycoon as an unreliable narrator of the company's history.
From Barron's • Apr. 29, 2026
This idea offers a fresh direction for astrobiology, especially in cases where traditional biosignatures are unclear or unreliable.
From Science Daily • Apr. 15, 2026
All the usual sources of information including e-mail and cell phones were much too slow and unreliable to be of any use and there was no television to speak of.
From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff
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.
