unsteady
Americanadjective
-
not steady or firm; unstable; shaky.
an unsteady hand.
-
fluctuating or wavering.
an unsteady flame; unsteady prices.
- Synonyms:
- vacillating
-
irregular or uneven.
an unsteady development.
verb (used with object)
adjective
-
not securely fixed
an unsteady foothold
-
(of behaviour, etc) lacking constancy; erratic
-
without regularity
an unsteady rhythm
-
(of a manner of walking, etc) precarious, staggering, as from intoxication
verb
Synonym Usage
See unsettled.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unsteady
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.
But the nuclear infrastructure is too battered and the regime too unsteady to sprint for the bomb.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
Bass, who was out of the country when the fire broke out, was unsteady in her early public appearances and, since then, has faced sharp criticism over the pace of the rebuilding.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
Yet they have to correct for a yearslong decline in employer response rates to BLS surveys—which does not negate the data overall, but certainly makes preliminary calculations a bit more unsteady and speculative.
From Slate • Apr. 3, 2026
So why haven’t these headlines done more to calm an unsteady global oil market?
From MarketWatch • Mar. 11, 2026
Powell clambered upward in an instinctive striving for better view, till he was standing in unsteady fashion upon his robot’s shoulders.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
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.
