Adjacent Words

Fickle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FICK'LE, a. [L. vacillo; Gr.; Heb. to stagger.]
1. Wavering; inconstant; unstable; of a changeable mind; irresolute; not firm in opinion or purpose; capricious.
They know how fickle common lovers are.
2. Not fixed or firm; liable to change or vicissitude; as a fickle state.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: marked by erratic changeableness in affections or attachments; "fickle friends"; "a flirt's volatile affections" [syn: fickle, volatile]
2: liable to sudden unpredictable change; "erratic behavior"; "fickle weather"; "mercurial twists of temperament"; "a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next" [syn: erratic, fickle, mercurial, quicksilver]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English fikel deceitful, inconstant, from Old English ficol deceitful; akin to Old English befician to deceive, and probably to Old English f?h hostile — more at foe Date: 13th century marked by lack of steadfastness, constancy, or stability ; given to erratic changeableness Synonyms: see inconstant • fickleness noun • fickly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. inconstant, changeable, esp. in loyalty. Derivatives: fickleness n. fickly adv. Etymology: OE ficol; cf. befician deceive, fæcne deceitful

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fickle Fic"kle, a. [OE. fikel untrustworthy, deceitful, AS. ficol, fr. fic, gefic, fraud, deceit; cf. f[=a]cen deceit, OS. f?kn, OHG. feichan, Icel. feikn portent. Cf. Fidget.] Not fixed or firm; liable to change; unstable; of a changeable mind; not firm in opinion or purpose; inconstant; capricious; as, Fortune's fickle wheel. --Shak. They know how fickle common lovers are. --Dryden. Syn: Wavering; irresolute; unsettled; vacillating; unstable; inconsonant; unsteady; variable; mutable; changeful; capricious; veering; shifting.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you describe someone as fickle, you disapprove of them because they keep changing their mind about what they like or want. The group has been notoriously fickle in the past. ADJ [disapproval] • fickleness ...the fickleness of businessmen and politicians. N-UNCOUNT: usu N of n 2. If you say that something is fickle, you mean that it often changes and is unreliable. Orta's weather can be fickle. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Wavering, inconstant, unsteady, unstable, variable, vacillating, volatile, mercurial, changeable, fitful, irresolute, unsettled, capricious, like a weather-cock.

Moby Thesaurus

adrift, afloat, agnostic, alternating, ambiguous, ambitendent, ambivalent, amorphous, at loose ends, brittle, capricious, chancy, changeable, changeful, coquettish, corruptible, deciduous, derelict, desultory, deviable, dicey, disaffected, disloyal, dizzy, double-minded, doubting, dubious, dying, eccentric, ephemeral, equivocal, erratic, evanescent, faddish, fading, faithless, false, fanciful, fast and loose, fence-sitting, fence-straddling, fitful, fleeting, flickering, flighty, flirtatious, flitting, fluctuating, fly-by-night, flying, fragile, frail, freakish, frivolous, fugacious, fugitive, giddy, hesitant, hesitating, impermanent, impetuous, impulsive, incalculable, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, indemonstrable, infirm, infirm of purpose, insubstantial, irregular, irresolute, irresolved, irresponsible, light, lubricious, mazy, mercurial, momentary, moody, mortal, mugwumpian, mugwumpish, mutable, nondurable, nonpermanent, not true to, of bad faith, of two minds, passing, perishable, polysemous, quicksilver, rambling, recreant, restless, roving, scatterbrained, shapeless, shifting, shifty, short-lived, shuffling, skeptical, skittish, spasmodic, spineless, temperamental, temporal, temporary, ticklish, touch-and-go, toying, transient, transitive, transitory, trothless, unaccountable, uncertain, unconfirmable, uncontrolled, unconvinced, undecided, undependable, undetermined, undisciplined, undivinable, undurable, unenduring, unfaithful, unfixed, unforeseeable, unloyal, unpersuaded, unpredictable, unprovable, unreliable, unresolved, unrestrained, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsure, untrue, untrustworthy, unverifiable, vacillating, vagrant, variable, versatile, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical, wishy-washy