erratic

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“
The parliament's last speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also a Sunni Arab, stepped down in December after lawmakers criticized what they called his erratic behavior.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Having no fixed or regular course; wandering.
  2. adjective Lacking consistency, regularity, or uniformity: an erratic heartbeat.
  3. adjective Deviating from the customary course in conduct or opinion; eccentric: erratic behavior.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (48)

  • Then he started to get more and more erratic, and increasingly intractable in his views, until he started talking about speculative fringe theories such as "no planes" in public, and the whole campaign was ridiculed by the media in the UK. —  911Blogger.com - Paying Attention to 9/11 Related Alternative News
  • I think Casilla is a little more erratic, at this point. —  Athletics Nation
  • Obama isn't above attacking McCain's character with loaded words, releasing an ad on Sunday that calls the Arizona Republican "erratic" - a hard-to miss suggestion that McCain's age, 71, might be an issue. —  WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
  • Obama isn't above attacking McCain's character with loaded words, releasing an ad on Sunday that calls the Arizona Republican "erratic" - a hard-to miss suggestion that McCain's age, 72, might be an issue. —  Top Stories - Google News
  • Her life prior to the coma was dysfunctional, erratic, and filled with self-centeredness. —  StuffWeLike.com
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

unpredictable ·  eccentric ·  capricious ·  irregular ·  unsteady ·  uncertain ·  unstable ·  wayward ·  impulsive ·  bizarre ·  rapid ·  fitful
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English erratik, from Old French erratique, from Latin errāticus, from errāre, to wander; see ers- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English erratik, erratyk, from Old French (and F.) erratique = Provencal erratic, eratic = Spanish errático = Portuguese Italian erratico, from Latin erraticus, wandering, from errare, wander: see err.
 

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/ɛˈrætɪk/
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