volatile

¹vol·a·tile

adjective \ˈvä-lə-t^əl, especially British -ˌtī(-ə)l\

Definition of VOLATILE

1

: readily vaporizable at a relatively low temperature

2

: flying or having the power to fly

3

a : lighthearted, lively

b : easily aroused <volatile suspicions>

c : tending to erupt into violence : explosive <a volatile temper>

4

a : unable to hold the attention fixed because of an inherent lightness or fickleness of disposition

b : characterized by or subject to rapid or unexpected change <a volatile market>

5

: difficult to capture or hold permanently : evanescent, transitory

— vol·a·tile·ness noun

— vol·a·til·i·ty \ˌvä-lə-ˈti-lə-tē\ noun

Examples of VOLATILE

1. The stock market can be very volatile.
2. She is a volatile woman.
3. The protests are increasing, creating a volatile situation in the capital.
4. I am beginning to hear investors say that the best way to beat this volatile market is by trading—anxiously moving in and out of securities as the market ebbs and flows. In my view there is no surer path to the poorhouse. —John W. Rogers, Jr., Forbes, 25 May 2009
5. Usually, only a few of the volatile chemicals in a fragrance are obviously noticeable to human noses. —Ivan Amato, Science News, 24 Sept. 2005
6. VOCs (or volatile organic compounds) are thought to be among the potential culprits behind illnesses often lumped under the heading of Sick Building Syndrome. —Scott Schilling, This Old House, March 2005
7. … it was Elvis who represented rock and roll at its unblushing, volatile best; he was its first master and the embodiment of every reason that adolescents of the postwar years turned to it in favor of the cheerfully torpid pop music … to which their parents were listening. —David Hajdu, New York Review of Books, 9 Oct. 2003
8. When left unused, make-up has a tendency to dry out because any water or other volatile substances it contains evaporate. —Barry Fox, New Scientist, 9 Aug. 2003

Origin of VOLATILE

French, from Latin volatilis, from volare to fly

First Known Use: 1605

Related to VOLATILE

Synonyms

capricious, changeable, changeful, flickery, fluctuating, fluid, inconsistent, inconstant, mercurial, mutable, skittish, temperamental, uncertain, unpredictable, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, variable, fickle

Antonyms

certain, changeless, constant, immutable, invariable, predictable, settled, stable, stationary, steady, unchangeable, unchanging, unvarying

Related Words

aimless, arbitrary, desultory, erratic, haphazard, hit-or-miss, irregular, random, scattered, slapdash, stray; ambivalent, hesitating, shaky, shilly-shally, shilly-shallying, vacillating, wavering; dicey, undependable, unreliable, untrustworthy; adaptable, mobile, protean, versatile

Near Antonyms

equable, even, uniform; abiding, durable, lasting, permanent, persistent; dependable, reliable, sure, tried, tried-and-true, true, trustworthy, trusty

Other Chemical Engineering Terms

alkali, cation, decant, hygroscopic, isotope, oxidize, slurry, solute, viscous

²vol·a·tile

noun \ˈvä-lə-t^əl, especially British -ˌtī(-ə)l\

Definition of VOLATILE

: a substance that is readily vaporizable at relatively low temperature : a volatile substance

Origin of VOLATILE

(see ¹volatile)

First Known Use: 1686

Other Chemical Engineering Terms

alkali, cation, decant, hygroscopic, isotope, oxidize, slurry, solute, viscous