fickle

adjective

fick·le ˈfi-kəl

Synonyms of fickle next

: marked by lack of steadfastness, constancy, or stability : given to erratic changeableness

fickleness noun

fickly

ˈfi-k(ə-)lē

adverb

Choose the Right Synonym for fickle

inconstant, fickle, capricious, mercurial, unstable mean lacking firmness or steadiness (as in purpose or devotion).

inconstant implies an incapacity for steadiness and an inherent tendency to change.

an inconstant friend

fickle suggests unreliability because of perverse changeability and incapacity for steadfastness.

performers discover how fickle fans can be

capricious suggests motivation by sudden whim or fancy and stresses unpredictability.

an utterly capricious critic

mercurial implies a rapid changeability in mood.

made anxious by her boss's mercurial temperament

unstable implies an incapacity for remaining in a fixed position or steady course and applies especially to a lack of emotional balance.

too unstable to hold a job

Example Sentences

The Weak will suck up to the Strong, for fear of losing their jobs and their money and all the fickle power they wielded only twenty-four hours ago. —

Hunter S. Thompson, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2004

The corporate fan who has replaced the core fan is a fickle beast, choosy about which games he'll use his precious free time to attend. —

E. M. Swift, Sports Illustrated, 15 May 2000

A failed play was a denial of what Odets was owed, for he was chasing the public no differently than did his bourgeois and nonrevolutionary contemporaries, a public as fickle as it always was and is. —

Arthur Miller, Harper's, March 1999

War is like hard-drug abuse or a fickle lover, an apparently contradictory bolt of compulsion, agony and ecstasy that draws you back in the face of better judgment time and time again. —

Anthony Loyd, My War Gone By, 1999

He blames poor sales on fickle consumers. a fickle friendship that was on and off over the years See More

Recent Examples on the Web Mainstream hip-hop can be fickle – plenty of artists who were notable in 2018 are not quite as ubiquitous today – but the debut of Utopia shows that Scott is not among them, and remains firmly planted on the A-list. —

Carl Lamarre, Billboard, 8 Aug. 2023 Collectors — and their families — would be wise to remember the marketplace can be fickle. —

George Gene Gustines, New York Times, 30 July 2023 But over the past four decades, Strait has not only beat the odds of a fickle industry, but became a standard-bearer, by keeping a laser focus on what matters most: the music, and artistry, and the fans. —

Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 29 July 2023 Keeping bees can do more than just provide you with fresh honey, but bees are fickle and tending a hive can be difficult. —

Thomas Goodwin Smith, Baltimore Sun, 1 Aug. 2023 The mind of the pop culture collective is fickle like that. —

WIRED, 28 July 2023 That tax credits are the only thing making this practice profitable is troubling, particularly given how fickle the fossil fuel industry has been about its low-carbon investments. —

Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 24 July 2023 The luxury industry can be fickle, as one of its most influential executives has found out. —

Carol Ryan, WSJ, 19 July 2023 Meta itself has a fickle history with open protocols. —

Gregory Barber, WIRED, 18 July 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fickle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English fikel deceitful, inconstant, from Old English ficol deceitful; akin to Old English befician to deceive, and probably to Old English fāh hostile — more at foe

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of fickle was in the 13th century

See more words from the same century