fickle

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: fick=le

CIDE DICTIONARY

fickle, a. [OE. fikel untrustworthy, deceitful, AS. ficol, fr. fic, gefic, fraud, deceit; cf. fācen deceit, OS. fkn, 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.  [1913 Webster]
"They know how fickle common lovers are."

Syn. -- Wavering; irresolute; unsettled; vacillating; unstable; inconsonant; unsteady; variable; mutable; changeful; capricious; veering; shifting.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

fickle, adj. inconstant, changeable, esp. in loyalty.

Derivative

fickleness n. fickly adv.

Etymology

OE ficol; cf. befician deceive, f{aelig}cne deceitful

THESAURUS

fickle

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

ROGET THESAURUS

fickle

Irresolution

N irresolution, infirmity of purpose, indecision, indetermination, undetermination, unsettlement, uncertainty, demur, suspense, hesitating, hesitation, hesitancy, vacillation, changeableness, fluctuation, alternation, caprice, fickleness, levity, legerete, pliancy, weakness, timidity, cowardice, half measures, waverer, ass between two bundles of hay, shuttlecock, butterfly, wimp, doughface, irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted, undecided, unresolved, undetermined, shilly-shally, fidgety, tremulous, hesitating, off one's balance, at a loss, vacillating, unsteady, unsteadfast, fickle, without ballast, capricious, volatile, frothy, light, lightsome, light-minded, giddy, fast and loose, weak, feeble-minded, frail, timid, wimpish, wimpy, cowardly, dough-faced, facile, pliant, unable to say 'no', easy-going revocable, reversible, irresolutely, irresolved, irresolvedly, in faltering accents, off and on, from pillar to post, seesaw, Int, how happy could I be with either!.

Caprice

N caprice, fancy, humor, whim, whimsy, whimsey, whimwham, crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade, wild-goose chase, capriciousness, kink, capricious, erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical, full of whims, maggoty, inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky, particular, humorsome, freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward, contrary, captious, arbitrary, unconformable, penny wise and pound foolish, fickle, frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile, by fits and starts, without rhyme or reason, nil fuit unquain sic inipar sibi, the deuce is in him.

Changeableness

N changeableness, mutability, inconstancy, versatility, mobility, instability, unstable equilibrium, vacillation, fluctuation, vicissitude, alternation, restlessness, fidgets, disquiet, disquietude, inquietude, unrest, agitation, moon, Proteus, chameleon, quicksilver, shifting sands, weathercock, harlequin, Cynthia of the minute, April showers, wheel of Fortune, transientness, changeable, changeful, changing, mutable, variable, checkered, ever changing, protean, proteiform, versatile, unstaid, inconstant, unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled, fluctuating, restless, agitated, erratic, fickle, irresolute, capricious, touch and go, inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic, vibratory, vagrant, wayward, desultory, afloat, alternating, alterable, plastic, mobile, transient, wavering, seesaw, off and on, a rolling stone gathers no moss, pictra mossa non fa muschis, honores mutant mores, varium et mutabile semper femina.