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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
  • But make no mistake: the situation remains extremely volatile.
    Robert Rapier, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
  • Instead of locking us into decades of volatile fossil fuel costs, Maryland should demand PJM approve the solar and storage projects already in their pipeline.
    Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 15 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • But because of its Schedule I status, VA doctors are forbidden from recommending or even discussing cannabis, leaving patients to navigate a legal and medical gray zone on their own, often turning to unreliable sources for information, access and even unsafe products.
    Laura Hartman, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 June 2025
  • Airline in-seat power can be unreliable, so consider a portable charger for your phone.
    Larry Magid, Mercury News, 12 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
  • 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
  • But an investigation resulted in an astonishing call from the other side of the world, which revealed that ‘The GPO Girl’ was, in fact, a 25-year-old Australian, who has created more than 100 false identities.
    Max Goldbart, Deadline, 24 June 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
  • 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
  • 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

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Cite this Entry

“Inconstant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inconstant. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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