fickle

adjective

fick·​le ˈfi-kəl 

: marked by lack of steadfastness, constancy, or stability : given to erratic changeableness

fickleness noun

fickly

ˈfi-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• capricious
• changeable
• changeful
• flickery
• fluctuating
• fluid
• inconsistent
• inconstant
• mercurial
• mutable
• skittish
• temperamental
• uncertain
• unpredictable
• unsettled
• unstable
• unsteady
• variable
• volatile

Choose the Right Synonym for fickle

inconstant, fickle, capricious, mercurial, unstable 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

fickle suggests unreliability because of perverse changeability and incapacity for steadfastness.

performers discover how fickle fans can be

capricious suggests motivation by sudden whim or fancy and stresses unpredictability.

an utterly capricious critic

mercurial implies a rapid changeability in mood.

made anxious by her boss's mercurial temperament

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

Examples of fickle in a Sentence

The Weak will suck up to the Strong, for fear of losing their jobs and their money and all the fickle power they wielded only twenty-four hours ago. —Hunter S. Thompson, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2004

The corporate fan who has replaced the core fan is a fickle beast, choosy about which games he'll use his precious free time to attend. —E. M. Swift, Sports Illustrated, 15 May 2000

A failed play was a denial of what Odets was owed, for he was chasing the public no differently than did his bourgeois and nonrevolutionary contemporaries, a public as fickle as it always was and is. —Arthur Miller, Harper's, March 1999

War is like hard-drug abuse or a fickle lover, an apparently contradictory bolt of compulsion, agony and ecstasy that draws you back in the face of better judgment time and time again. —Anthony Loyd, My War Gone By, 1999

He blames poor sales on fickle consumers.

a fickle friendship that was on and off over the years

Recent Examples on the Web

But the president-elect's favors are fickle, and there are already signs that Musk may be overplaying his hand. —Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 19 Nov. 2024

Waddington is notorious for its fickle weather—the peak is regularly hit by storms off the Pacific Ocean that freeze the summit in rime ice. —Corbin Reiff, Outside Online, 22 Oct. 2024

Content creators’ careers, because they’re tied to online metrics and the fickle whims of the internet, are volatile. —Taylor Lorenz, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Oct. 2024

And despite the fickle nature of the genre and the fatigue that can sometimes outweigh fan enthusiasm, celebrity beauty brands show no sign of slowing. —Marci Robin, Allure, 27 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English fikel deceitful, inconstant, from Old English ficol deceitful; akin to Old English befician to deceive, and probably to Old English fāh hostile — more at foe

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

fickle

adjective

fick·​le ˈfik-əl 

: likely to change frequently without good reason : inconstant

fickle friends

fickleness noun

fickly

ˈfik-(ə-)lē 

adverb