Meaning of unstable in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Classifying Adjective
    1. Definitions
  3. Qualitative Adjective
    1. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    US accent

    UK accent

  1. Classifying Adjective

    unstable

    Definitions

    1. highly or violently reactive

    Examples

    • « sensitive and highly unstable compounds »

    Synonyms

  2. 2. affording no ease or reassurance

    Examples

    • « a precarious truce »

    Synonyms

  3. 3. suffering from severe mental illness

    Examples

    • « of unsound mind »

    Synonyms

  4. 4. disposed to psychological variability

    Examples

    • « his rather unstable religious convictions »

    Synonyms

  5. 5. subject to change

    Examples

    • « variable »
    • « a fluid situation fraught with uncertainty »
    • « everything was unstable following the coup »

    Synonyms

  6. Qualitative Adjective

    unstable

    Definitions

    1. lacking stability or fixity or firmness

    Examples

    • « unstable political conditions »
    • « the tower proved to be unstable in the high wind »
    • « an unstable world economy »

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

Famous quotes

  • « As a father now, I wouldn't do what my dad did, because it left me feeling emotionally unstable as a kid. But he didn't do the things he did out of selfishness or malice. »
    Anthony Kiedis
  • « For while the subjects of poetry are few and recurrent, the moods of man are infinitely various and unstable. It is the same in all arts. »
    John Drinkwater
  • « My greatest concern is that the emergence of this technology without the appropriate public attention and international controls could lead to an unstable arms race. »
    K. Eric Drexler
  • « When I think about the world I would like to leave to my daughter and the grandchildren I hope to have, it is a world that moves away from unequal, unstable, unsustainable interdependence to integrated communities - locally, nationally and globally - that share the characteristics of all successful communities. »
    William J. Clinton
  • « An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive. »
    John Barton

See also

Browse dictionary