Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having no fixed or regular course; wandering.
  • adjective Lacking consistency, regularity, or uniformity.
  • adjective Deviating from the customary course in conduct or opinion; eccentric.
  • noun A rock fragment that has been transported by ice to a location other than its place of origin and that may range in size from a pebble to a large boulder.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Wandering; having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination.
  • Deviating from the proper or usual course in opinion or conduct; eccentric.
  • Moving; not fixed or stationary: applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.
  • In medicine, irregular; changeable; moving from point to point, as rheumatic or other pains, or appearing at indeterminate intervals, as some intermittent fevers.
  • In geology, relating to or explanatory of the condition and distribution of erratics. See II., 2.
  • noun One who or that which has wandered; a wanderer.
  • noun Specifically In geology, a boulder or block which has been conveyed from its original site, probably by ice, and deposited at a distance; an erratic block. See erratic blocks, under I.
  • noun An eccentric person.
  • In zoology, occurring in an unusual location.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.
  • adjective Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; strange; queer.
  • adjective Irregular; changeable.
  • adjective (Geol.) masses of stone which have been transported from their original resting places by the agency of water, ice, or other causes.
  • adjective the phenomena which relate to transported materials on the earth's surface.
  • noun One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual character.
  • noun obsolete A rogue.
  • noun (Geol.) Any stone or material that has been borne away from its original site by natural agencies; esp., a large block or fragment of rock; a bowlder.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent
  • noun geology A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
  • noun Anything that has erratic characteristics.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having no fixed course
  • adjective likely to perform unpredictably
  • adjective liable to sudden unpredictable change

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French erratique, from Latin erraticus.

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Except for a large, open circle in the center of the village, the Stonedown looked as erratically laid out as if it had fallen off the mountain not long ago."

    Lord Foul's Bane

    July 29, 2012

  • 'Sprunghaft', 'Unberechenbar', 'Ungleichmässig' TOP 5 BASIC

    S: ROGUE, Unstable, Irregular, Inconsistent, Volatile, Eccentric, Strange

    A: Steady, Consistent, Reasonable, Calm, Normal

    October 25, 2013