Erratic vs Unstable - What's the difference?
erratic | unstable |
unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent
Deviating from the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; odd.
(geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
* 2003 , (Bill Bryson), A Short History of Nearly Everything , BCA 2003, p. 372:
Anything that has erratic characteristics.
Having a strong tendency to change.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Fluctuating; not constant.
Fickle.
Unpredictable.
(chemistry) Readily decomposable.
(physics) Radioactive, especially with a short half-life.
As adjectives the difference between erratic and unstable
is that erratic is unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent while unstable is having a strong tendency to change.As a noun erratic
is a rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.erratic
English
Alternative forms
* erratick, erraticke, erratique (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.
- erratic conduct
Derived terms
* erraticallyAntonyms
* consistentNoun
(en noun)- The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic , but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.
Anagrams
*unstable
English
Adjective
(en adjective)Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.