Link Centre Dictionary

erratic

er·ra·tic

UK/ɪˈɹætɪk/ US/ɪˈɹætɪk/ uncommon

adjective

1.

having no fixed course

  • “an erratic comet”
  • “his life followed a wandering course”
  • “a planetary vagabond”
Similar
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”
3.

likely to perform unpredictably

  • “erratic winds are the bane of a sailor”
  • “a temperamental motor; sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn”
  • “;”
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Origin

From Middle English erratik, erratyk, from Latin errāticus; compare Old French erratique.

Phrases

  • glacial erratic

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.