protean

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: pro=te=an

CIDE DICTIONARY

protean, a. 

•  Of or pertaining to Proteus; characteristic of Proteus.  Cudworth.  [1913 Webster]
•  Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms; as, an amœba is a protean animalcule.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

protean, adj.
1 variable, taking many forms.
2 (of an artist, writer, etc.) versatile.

Etymology

after Proteus: see PROTEUS

THESAURUS

protean

able to adapt, adaptable, adjustable, allotropic, alterable, alterative, changeable, changeful, checkered, diversiform, ever-changing, flexible, fluid, heteromorphic, heteromorphous, impermanent, kaleidoscopic, labile, malleable, manifold, many-sided, metamorphic, metamorphotic, mobile, modifiable, movable, multifarious, multifold, multiform, multiphase, multiple, multiplex, mutable, nonuniform, permutable, plastic, polymorphic, polymorphous, proteiform, resilient, rubbery, supple, transient, transitory, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, variable

ROGET THESAURUS

protean

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.

Form

N form, figure, shape, conformation, configuration, make, formation, frame, construction, cut, set, build, trim, cut of one's jib, stamp, type, cast, mold, fashion, contour, structure, plasmature, feature, lineament, turn, phase, posture, attitude, pose, morphism, isomorphism, forming, formation, figuration, efformation, sculpture, plasmation, formed, plastic, fictile, formative, fluid, plasmic, isomorphous, pleomorphic, protean, changeable.