1
as in infidelity
lack of faithfulness especially to one's husband or wife
a wife who was long inured to the chronic inconstancy of her husband
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in fluctuation
the frequent and usually sudden passing from one condition to another
the inconstancy of public opinion is such that today's hero may be tomorrow's punching bag
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of inconstancy
Europeans, awakened to the danger of American inconstancy, are scrambling to spend trillions more on defense in coming years.
—
Adam Rasmi, Time, 20 June 2025
Years of naval inconstancy with repair work drove Vigor Industrial—a once vibrant and growing maritime conglomerate—into the welcoming arms of hedge funds, which wasted no time in striping the company of value.
—Craig Hooper, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
In the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands, as the center-left was evolving, the label was most effectively applied to those telegenic figures—Bill and Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, John Edwards—who were suspected of ideological inconstancy and of substituting polls for principles.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2022
But, in the hands of the Fleet Foxes, the pastoral feels less like a particular zone in time and more like a space in which to parse ideas of self-reliance, the inconstancy of love, the pain of intimacy, the fear of loss, the sting of betrayal, and the strange but urgent project of hope.
—Brandon Taylor, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2022
Here, Calabazas appears to be holding a toy windmill in one hand and, in the other, a miniature portrait of a woman, perhaps intended by Velázquez as a commentary on the inconstancy of love.
—Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2023
Due to his inconstancy and Angie’s growing attachment, their flimsy relationship operated on a timescale of eras coalescing into matters of historical record.
—Hannah Gold, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022
Over the past 20 years, the United States has undermined its own global leadership by inconstancy.
—Damon Linker, The Week, 9 June 2021
An acidic trickle of disenchantment, especially regarding Bellow’s inconstancy with women and family, runs through it.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2021
Adam Rasmi, Time, 20 June 2025
Years of naval inconstancy with repair work drove Vigor Industrial—a once vibrant and growing maritime conglomerate—into the welcoming arms of hedge funds, which wasted no time in striping the company of value.
—Craig Hooper, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
In the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands, as the center-left was evolving, the label was most effectively applied to those telegenic figures—Bill and Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, John Edwards—who were suspected of ideological inconstancy and of substituting polls for principles.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2022
But, in the hands of the Fleet Foxes, the pastoral feels less like a particular zone in time and more like a space in which to parse ideas of self-reliance, the inconstancy of love, the pain of intimacy, the fear of loss, the sting of betrayal, and the strange but urgent project of hope.
—Brandon Taylor, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2022
Here, Calabazas appears to be holding a toy windmill in one hand and, in the other, a miniature portrait of a woman, perhaps intended by Velázquez as a commentary on the inconstancy of love.
—Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2023
Due to his inconstancy and Angie’s growing attachment, their flimsy relationship operated on a timescale of eras coalescing into matters of historical record.
—Hannah Gold, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022
Over the past 20 years, the United States has undermined its own global leadership by inconstancy.
—Damon Linker, The Week, 9 June 2021
An acidic trickle of disenchantment, especially regarding Bellow’s inconstancy with women and family, runs through it.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inconstancy
Noun
-
There have also been issues with infidelity, the source alleged.—
Anna Lazarus Caplan,
People.com,
30 June 2025
-
This disregard often pushes them toward infidelity, without thinking of its consequences.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
26 June 2025
Noun
-
Design production and hiring plans with elasticity, so capacity can ramp up or down in response to regulatory fluctuations.—
Claudio Saes,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2025
-
Advertisement Rogoff, who predicted the fall of the U.S. dollar in his book, argues that its dip in value is part of its typical fluctuation.—
Solcyré Burga,
Time,
26 June 2025
Noun
-
Every look with such an irregular desire is in our Savior’s opinion a virtual adultery. . . .—
Merve Emre,
New Yorker,
16 June 2025
-
The sixth commandment in Catholic teaching prohibits adultery.—
Ruth Graham,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
Noun
-
Brainwaves, or neural oscillations, are regular patterns created by firing neurons or groups of neurons.—
Eva Amsen,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2025
-
This involved manually disturbing the leg and then releasing it, capturing the resulting oscillations on high-speed video.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The stories are compelling, often blending sure-fire elements of true crime, psychology (primarily the surrender and loss of self, replaced with a groupthink mentality), deception, betrayal and all manner of drama.—
R. Daniel Foster,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
-
Conan Edogawa and Detective Kogoro Mouri join the Nagano prefectural police to investigate a break-in at the observatory while uncovering a deeper plot involving undercover agents, betrayal, and vengeance.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
30 June 2025
Noun
-
More cunningly, this also serves to instill you with guilt: as though refusing to align with their viewpoints equates to a signal of disloyalty.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2025
-
One video aims to appeal to senior Communist Party officials who live in perpetual fear of being snapped up by Xi’s seemingly endless crackdown on corruption and disloyalty.—
Nectar Gan,
CNN Money,
2 May 2025
Noun
-
Their perfidy is memorialized in the English language, though.—
Evan Osnos,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
-
The prior month, Vice President JD Vance had lodged his own complaints about Europe’s alleged perfidy, threatening that the United States might withdraw its security guarantees from Europe if the EU continued to aggressively regulate U.S. tech companies.—
ANU BRADFORD,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inconstancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inconstancy. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share