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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective inconstant differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of inconstant are capricious, fickle, mercurial, and unstable. While all these words 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

When could capricious be used to replace inconstant?

The meanings of capricious and inconstant largely overlap; however, capricious suggests motivation by sudden whim or fancy and stresses unpredictability.

an utterly capricious critic

Where would fickle be a reasonable alternative to inconstant?

While in some cases nearly identical to inconstant, fickle suggests unreliability because of perverse changeability and incapacity for steadfastness.

performers discover how fickle fans can be

When can mercurial be used instead of inconstant?

While the synonyms mercurial and inconstant are close in meaning, mercurial implies a rapid changeability in mood.

made anxious by her boss's mercurial temperament

When would unstable be a good substitute for inconstant?

The words unstable and inconstant can be used in similar contexts, but 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

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 inconstant The key finding is that as the distance grows greater, the coupling stops growing, and the inconstant constant becomes constant once more. Stanley J. Brodsky, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2024 Energy experts have been warning that electricity is likely to get more expensive and less reliable unless renewable power that waxes and wanes under inconstant sunlight and wind is backed up by generators that can run whenever needed. IEEE Spectrum, 9 May 2024 In March, Johnson ordered the first national lockdown, caught COVID, and later spent three nights in the I.C.U. For months, the country staggered from one set of restrictions to the next—a reflection of Johnson’s inconstant attitude toward the virus. Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024 Song as a different kind of time, as heroin became her own inconstant clock. Elizabeth Barber, Harper's Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024 See All Example Sentences for inconstant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inconstant
Adjective
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • But for investors who are wary of the susceptibility of Argos’s sales to the unpredictable nature of the weather, the team is ramping up its efforts to expand its products to include stockless ranges.
    John Choong, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
  • The head of the European Central Bank said inflation has become more unpredictable due to shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and that policymakers need to take the possibility of such extreme scenarios into account and communicate them to the public as well.
    Jim Edwards, Fortune, 1 July 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • Minimizing unplanned downtime can deliver an impact that becomes amplified when external supply chains are unreliable.
    Ed Garibian, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025
Adjective
  • Hers is the kind of face that inspires directors to tight framing — gleaming, as if smoothed from marble, and yet somehow pliant, changeful.
    Jordan Kisner Jack Davison, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2022
  • Rigorous, blustery winter; winding sleety spring; hot, moist enervating summer; changeful autumn with its dog-days; these are absolutely unknown.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Jan. 2023
Adjective
  • The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration report said that driver also made a false report related to hours of service.
    Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 July 2025
  • His claims are false and do not reflect accountability for the impact of his actions on the community.
    Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 3 July 2025
Adjective
  • Caregivers, or Care Pros, are the largest workforce in the U.S., yet their jobs are often undervalued and unstable.
    Glenn Llopis, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025
  • Residents in the wing that stayed intact managed to get out but were not allowed to return to their homes, and the rest of the building, determined to be unstable, was demolished 10 days later as a hurricane threatened South Florida.
    Linda Robertson, Miami Herald, 24 June 2025
Adjective
  • And yes, much of it involves harrowing drives on treacherous mountain roads, only a few of which — disappointingly, considering the title — are icy.
    Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 26 June 2025
  • But only three of those runs were earned, and three of the hits were pop flies missed due to treacherous winds at Wrigley.
    Sahadev Sharma, New York Times, 22 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Inconstant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inconstant. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.

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