volatile
Americanadjective
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evaporating rapidly; passing off readily in the form of vapor.
Acetone is a volatile solvent.
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tending or threatening to break out into open violence; explosive.
a volatile political situation.
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changeable; mercurial; flighty.
a volatile disposition.
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(of prices, values, etc.) tending to fluctuate sharply and regularly.
volatile market conditions.
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fleeting; transient.
volatile beauty.
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Computers. of or relating to storage that does not retain data when electrical power is turned off or fails.
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able to fly or flying.
noun
adjective
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(of a substance) capable of readily changing from a solid or liquid form to a vapour; having a high vapour pressure and a low boiling point
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(of persons) disposed to caprice or inconstancy; fickle; mercurial
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(of circumstances) liable to sudden, unpredictable, or explosive change
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lasting only a short time
volatile business interests
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computing (of a memory) not retaining stored information when the power supply is cut off
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obsolete flying or capable of flight; volant
noun
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a volatile substance
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rare a winged creature
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of volatile
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Latin volātilis, equivalent to volāt(us) “flown,” past participle of volāre “to fly” + -ilis -ile
Explanation
Watch out when a situation becomes volatile — it is likely to change for the worse suddenly. If you and your best friend have a volatile relationship, you frequently fight and make up. Volatile from Latin volatilis, "fleeting, transitory," always gives the sense of sudden, radical change. Think of it as the opposite of stable. A person who is volatile loses his or her temper suddenly and violently. A volatile political situation could erupt into civil war. When the stock market is volatile, it fluctuates greatly. And in scientific language, a volatile oil evaporates quickly.
Vocabulary lists containing volatile
Words from "The Avengers"
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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.
Chip stocks are bouncing, but the uncertainty around future data-center spending probably isn’t going away, which he noted could keep stocks volatile for some time.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
Still, the less volatile three-month comparison showed output falling in the third quarter compared with the second.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
He suspects GE Aerospace's recent move is about securing reliability and predictability in the notoriously volatile aircraft manufacturing supply chain.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Chip stocks were bouncing, but the uncertainty around future data-center spending probably isn’t going away, and he said that could keep stocks volatile for some time.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026
He tells her that although they had become estranged, he often thinks of Vincent, “so often volatile and so impassioned, yet for his noble mind and artistic qualities, always worthy of admiration.”
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
