erratic

erratic

adjective

Definition of ERRATIC

1

lacking a definite plan, purpose, or pattern <so far your effort to land a summer job has been very erratic>

Synonyms aimless, arbitrary, catch-as-catch-can, desultory, erratic, haphazard, helter-skelter, hit-or-miss, scattered, slapdash, stray

Related Words accidental, casual, chance, chancy, contingent, fluky (also flukey), fortuitous, inadvertent, incidental, lucky, unconsidered, unintended, unintentional, unplanned, unpremeditated; scattershot, shotgun; irregular, odd, sporadic, spot; directionless, objectless, purposeless; indiscriminate, unsystematic; undirected; disorderly, disorganized; undiscriminating, unselective

Near Antonyms established, fixed, regular, set, stable, steady; constant, continuous, even; arranged, managed, orchestrated, ordered, planned; aware, conscious, deliberate, purposeful, thoughtful, willful (or wilful)

Antonyms methodical (also methodic), nonrandom, orderly, organized, regular, systematic, systematized

2

lacking in steadiness or regularity of occurrence <because of your erratic attendance at practice, you're in danger of being cut from the team>

Synonyms aperiodic, casual, catchy, choppy, discontinuous, episodic (also episodical), erratic, intermittent, irregular, occasional, spasmodic, spastic, sporadic, spotty, unsteady

Related Words convulsive, sudden, violent; broken, disconnected, fragmentary, interrupted; aimless, arbitrary, desultory, haphazard, hit-and-miss, hit-or-miss, odd, random, scattered, slapdash, stray; capricious, changeful, changing, flickery, fluctuating, fluid, inconstant, mercurial, mutable, temperamental, uncertain, unpredictable, unsettled, unstable, varying, wavering; changeable, fickle, variable, volatile

Near Antonyms changeless, equable, even, stable, stationary, uniform; unchanging, unvarying, unwavering; methodical (also methodic), orderly, systematic; unrelenting, unremitting

Antonyms constant, continuous, habitual, periodic, regular, repeated, steady

3

not staying constant <business at the fast-food restaurant has been so erratic lately that the manager never knows how much staff to have on hand>

Synonyms changing, erratic, fluctuating, irregular, unequal, unstable, unsteady, varying

Related Words capricious, changeable, changeful, choppy, fickle, fluid, inconsistent, inconstant, mercurial, mutable, uncertain, unsettled, variable, volatile

Near Antonyms regular

Antonyms changeless, constant, stable, steady, unchanging, unvarying

4

different from the ordinary in a way that causes curiosity or suspicion <the key to the code was the erratic punctuation the killer used>

Synonyms bizarre, bizarro, cranky, crazy, curious, eccentric, erratic, far-out, funky, funny, kinky, kooky (also kookie), offbeat, off-kilter, off-the-wall, outlandish, out-of-the-way, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, queerish, quirky, remarkable, rum [chiefly British], screwy, spaced-out, strange, wacky (also whacky), way-out, weird, weirdo, wild

Related Words aberrant, abnormal, addlepated, flaky; extraordinary, fantastic (also fantastical), freak, freakish, freaky, phantasmagoric (or phantasmagorical), phenomenal; atypical, rare, singular, uncommon, uncustomary, unique, unusual, unwonted; conspicuous, notable, noticeable, outstanding, prominent, salient, striking; atrocious, outrageous, shocking; crotchety, idiosyncratic, nonconformist, nonmainstream, out-there, unconventional, unorthodox; baffling, bewildering, confounding, mystifying, perplexing, puzzling

Near Antonyms average, commonplace, everyday, garden, normal, ordinary, prosaic, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, typical, unexceptional, unremarkable, usual, workaday; conformist, conservative, conventional; expected, familiar, knee-jerk, predictable; common, customary, frequent, habitual, regular, wonted