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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 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 Turgenev was also indecisive, inconstant, maybe even a bit unreliable. Keith Gessen, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2022 See All Example Sentences for inconstant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inconstant
Adjective
  • Other big miners, including archrivals BHP, Anglo American and Glencore, have steered clear of lithium, am important metal in batteries, but one which is also abundantly available puts suffers from extremely volatile pricing.
    Tim Treadgold, Forbes.com, 23 May 2025
  • Unlike volatile digital assets like bitcoin, the value of stablecoins is tied to a real-world asset like fiat currencies or commodities like gold.
    Dylan Butts, CNBC, 22 May 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
  • The Outlaw Music Festival touched down Thursday night on the North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, California, and Bob Dylan once again delivered a wildly unpredictable set that stunned even his most hardcore fans.
    Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2025
  • Another plus: The votes were completely unpredictable from week to week, leading to some truly crazy Tribals.
    Dalton Ross, EW.com, 15 May 2025
Adjective
  • The cooling system in her second-story apartment in Albuquerque, New Mexico, had always been unreliable.
    Ignacio Calderon, USA Today, 21 May 2025
  • This showed that changes in the truck's speed produced turbulence in the liquid helium, making measurements of its presence unreliable.
    John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 19 May 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
  • Now their weird discomfort with disease—and their outré views on cancer in particular—is being refracted through a sea of false, indecent speculations.
    Benjamin Mazer, The Atlantic, 19 May 2025
  • This discrepancy hindered the adoption of BI, which might further damage AI by generating models that are trained with false assumptions and generate erroneous predictions.
    Artyom Keydunov, Forbes.com, 19 May 2025
Adjective
  • Stage 1: In this stage, inflammation, as well as loose or unstable joints, is present.
    Isabel Casimiro, Verywell Health, 22 May 2025
  • Unfortunately, modeling variations on this orbit through time indicated that 98 percent of them were unstable within 50 million years.
    John Timmer, ArsTechnica, 22 May 2025
Adjective
  • Hickey made three trips back and forth in the treacherous water to save the boaters one by one.
    Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 25 May 2025
  • Mastering wet roads: Safety tips for heavy rainfall When heavy rain pours, the risk of flooding and treacherous roads rises.
    Southern California Weather Report, Oc Register, 24 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Inconstant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inconstant. Accessed 30 May. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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