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Patchy vs Unstable - What's the difference?

patchy | unstable |

As adjectives the difference between patchy and unstable

is that patchy is full of, or covered with, patches; abounding in patches while unstable is having a strong tendency to change.

patchy

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Full of, or covered with, patches; abounding in patches.
  • Not constant or continuous; intermittent or uneven .
    • patchy clouds

    unstable

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having a strong tendency to change.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= 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.
  • Fluctuating; not constant.
  • Fickle.
  • Unpredictable.
  • (chemistry) Readily decomposable.
  • (physics) Radioactive, especially with a short half-life.

    • Synonyms

    * instable (rare) * (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over) precarious, rickety, shaky, tottering, unsafe, unsteady, wobbly

    Antonyms

    * stable

    Related terms

    * instability * unstability (rare)

    Anagrams

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