1
as in volatile
likely to change frequently, suddenly, or unexpectedly
a fickle friendship that was on and off over the years
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in traitorous
not true in one's allegiance to someone or something
when the family's fortune disappeared, so did their fickle friends
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Recent Examples of fickle
Fame, however, can be fickle, and public opinion can turn on a dime, especially when your values are strongly in contrast to the fan base that once adored you.
—
Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
The oddly fickle and precise mix of atmospheric ingredients needed to generate tornadoes just happens to have occurred over and over again since mid-March—and the season isn’t over yet.
—Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 20 May 2025
His candidacy has also been embraced and even shaped by a hip social media class that wields not official endorsements, but something more nebulous and fickle: a social stamp of approval.
—Joseph Bernstein, New York Times, 17 May 2025
The dining industry can be fickle, and sometimes even the best restaurants teeter and collapse like a stack of plates under the weight of expectations.
—Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fickle
Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
The oddly fickle and precise mix of atmospheric ingredients needed to generate tornadoes just happens to have occurred over and over again since mid-March—and the season isn’t over yet.
—Andrea Thompson, Scientific American, 20 May 2025
His candidacy has also been embraced and even shaped by a hip social media class that wields not official endorsements, but something more nebulous and fickle: a social stamp of approval.
—Joseph Bernstein, New York Times, 17 May 2025
The dining industry can be fickle, and sometimes even the best restaurants teeter and collapse like a stack of plates under the weight of expectations.
—Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fickle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fickle
Adjective
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While the character brandishes a firearm and things eventually come to blows in physical tussles over the course of the volatile evening, Gallo's script never loses grip on the tender undercurrent of intimacy established back in Ponyboi's shower.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
27 June 2025
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Budget Pressure Is Driving Clarity The reflex in volatile markets is often to scale up teams or stack more tools.—
Jeremy Barnett,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
Adjective
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Michael Fassbender plays a British intelligence officer tasked with finding who leaked a top-secret software program and betrayed their country, and the list of five potentially traitorous suspects includes his own high-profile wife (Cate Blanchett).—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
10 May 2025
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Smith made out their former collaborators to be ungrateful and traitorous, and the kids weren't given the space to question her command.—
Zoey Lyttle,
People.com,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Each response is a surprise, tapping into the psychological principle of intermittent reinforcement, famously demonstrated by psychologist B.F. Skinner, where unpredictable rewards significantly amplify behaviors, much like gambling addiction.—
Curt Steinhorst,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
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The Big Apple is full of complex, unpredictable scenarios for the Waymo Driver software to handle: Jaywalking pedestrians, trucks parked in the street, complex intersections, heavy rains, and harsh winter weather, to name a few.—
Emily Forlini,
PC Magazine,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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Prosecutors in the case called for Clayton to be jailed for 10 years, but the defense argued for acquittal –– saying the woman’s testimony had many questions and was unreliable, according to NHK.—
Karina Tsui,
CNN Money,
25 June 2025
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Minimizing unplanned downtime can deliver an impact that becomes amplified when external supply chains are unreliable.—
Ed Garibian,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Adjective
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The storm could bring hazardous travel, power outages, and treacherous trail conditions during a time of year typically dominated by warmer weather and early summer tourism.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 June 2025
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Having heard rumors of a mythical doctor (played with a chilling calm by Ralph Fiennes) who could possibly help, Spike sneaks off with her for a treacherous expedition to the mainland.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
18 June 2025
Adjective
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Simultaneously, Dani Olmo could act as a false number 9 while a Robert Lewandowski believed to be on his way to Saudi Arabia in 2026 is gradually phased out.—
Tom Sanderson,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
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This was a false charge by the Bush administration, as the United Nations’ inspectors on the ground in Iraq tried to communicate to Bush, and as his intelligence agencies tried to tell him.—
Tom Zirpoli,
Baltimore Sun,
24 June 2025
Adjective
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If the United States is an unreliable partner and a source of chaos these countries will turn elsewhere, building new security and trade alliances that don’t depend on the inconstant, waning superpower.—
Lydia Polgreen,
Mercury News,
27 May 2025
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Much like a patient who fails to finish a course of antibiotics, inconstant policies may incur all the costs and none of the benefits.—
David Carlin,
Forbes,
24 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fickle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fickle. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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