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fickle
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
fick·le 
[fik-uhl] Pronunciation Key
—Related forms
[fik-uhl] Pronunciation Key –adjective
| 1. | likely to change, esp. due to caprice, irresolution, or instability; casually changeable: fickle weather. |
| 2. | not constant or loyal in affections: a fickle lover. |
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME fikel, OE ficol deceitful, akin to fācen treachery, fician to deceive, gefic deception]
] —Related forms
fick·le·ness, noun
—Synonyms 1. unstable, unsteady, variable, capricious, fitful. 2. inconstant. 1, 2. Fickle, inconstant, capricious, vacillating describe persons or things that are not firm or steady in affection, behavior, opinion, or loyalty. Fickle implies an underlying perversity as a cause for the lack of stability: the fickle seasons, disappointing as often as they delight; once lionized, now rejected by a fickle public. Inconstant suggests an innate disposition to change: an inconstant lover, flitting from affair to affair. Capricious implies unpredictable changeability arising from sudden whim: a capricious administration constantly and inexplicably changing its signals; a capricious and astounding reversal of position. Vacillating means changeable due to lack of resolution or firmness: an indecisive, vacillating leader, apparently incapable of a sustained course of action.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| fick·le
(fĭk'əl) Pronunciation Key
adj. Characterized by erratic changeableness or instability, especially with regard to affections or attachments; capricious. [Middle English fikel, from Old English ficol, deceitful.] fick'le·ness n., fick'ly adv. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fickle
fickle
O.E. ficol "deceitful," related to befician "deceive," and to facen "deceit, treachery." Common Gmc. (cf. O.S. fekan, O.H.G. feihhan "deceit, fraud, treachery"), from PIE *peig- "evil-minded, treacherous, hostile" (cf. L. piget "it irks, troubles, displeases," piger "reluctant, lazy"). Sense of "changeable" is first recorded c.1275.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| fickle | |
adjective | |
| 1. | marked by erratic changeableness in affections or attachments; "fickle friends"; "a flirt's volatile affections" |
| 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] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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