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
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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
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Recent Examples of inconstancy
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
Magill’s recollection, recounted in Blum’s Morgenthau biography, captures a typical moment of presidential inconstancy.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2021
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
Magill’s recollection, recounted in Blum’s Morgenthau biography, captures a typical moment of presidential inconstancy.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inconstancy
Noun
-
This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money.—
Jenna Sundel
Joshua Rhett Miller,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 May 2025
-
Season 2 finds the couple becoming the talk of the town after a cast trip to Vanderpump Villa leaves Demi facing accusations of infidelity.—
Angela Andaloro,
People.com,
15 May 2025
Noun
-
Burch’s other reasons behind this fluctuation have to do with our progressing society.—
Mary Shannon Wells,
Southern Living,
13 May 2025
-
When a customer's spend changes month to month, is that churn, expansion or just normal usage fluctuation?—
Alvaro Morales,
Forbes.com,
13 May 2025
Noun
-
The synopsis reads: 1972: The Ecclesiastical Court of Santiago de Compostela convicted Sagrario Fra, a shellfish harvester in Ferrol, for committing adultery.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
31 July 2024
-
There’s adultery and cuckoldry and suspicions of adultery and cuckoldry and doubles and all the other good Cronenbergian ideas.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
17 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
And its tracing of spatial distributions emerges from spying enormous bubblelike arrangements of galaxies thought to have formed from more primordial templates, called baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs).—
Lyndie Chiou,
Scientific American,
30 Apr. 2025
-
Users can choose to heat or cool an entire room with 70-degree oscillation or concentrate the gadget’s power to one area.—
Maggie Horton,
People.com,
25 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Blasting his policies as a betrayal of the nation’s founding principles, the former vice president warned of a looming constitutional crisis.—
Seema Mehta,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2025
-
The top Senate Democrat's support for the bill moving forward, in which he was joined by nine other members of the chamber's Democratic Caucus, prevented a government shutdown, but was seen by many in his party as a betrayal.—
Jason Lemon,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 May 2025
Noun
-
The message is unmistakable: disloyalty to the narrative will be punished.—
Tony Bradley,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
-
The Game is speaking up after the controversial figure attempted to call him out for disloyalty on X/Twitter.—
Jessica Bennett,
VIBE.com,
14 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
Despite high trade deficits, the U.S. economy is strong Trump and his advisers point to America’s lopsided trade numbers—year after year of huge deficits—as proof of foreigners’ perfidy.—
Time,
Time,
9 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inconstancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inconstancy. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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