Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Notsteadfast; not firmly fixed or established.
  • Not firmly adhering to a purpose; inconstant; irresolute.
  • Insecure; unsafe.

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

  • adjective Not steadfast; wavering, unfaithful.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

un- +‎ steadfast

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Examples

  • He looked a moment at his "unsteadfast footing," then let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet.

    An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 1969

  • Then I was angry and said in my heart -- The unsteadfast! they have verified the words of the

    Life of Schamyl And Narrative of the Circassian War of Independence Against Russia John Milton Mackie

  • A strong nature boldly hurls his inkstand at the Devil's head; goes to battle with his opponents with words both written and spoken; and keeps his own individuality free from the perplexities with which opponents disturb all that has been previously done, and make the soul unsteadfast and unnerved for what is to come.

    Stories by Foreign Authors: German — Volume 2 Various

  • Now they who boast of the habilities of their body, upon how unsteadfast a possession do they ground themselves!

    The Theological Tractates and The Consolation of Philosophy Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius 1908

  • In that Spanish world, unsteadfast and unstable, when one end of the see-saw was up the other must be down; and it was Columbus who now found himself high up in the heavens of favour, and Bobadilla who was seated in the dust.

    Christopher Columbus and the New World of His Discovery — Volume 7 Filson Young 1907

  • In that Spanish world, unsteadfast and unstable, when one end of the see-saw was up the other must be down; and it was Columbus who now found himself high up in the heavens of favour, and Bobadilla who was seated in the dust.

    Christopher Columbus and the New World of His Discovery — Complete Filson Young 1907

  • In that Spanish world, unsteadfast and unstable, when one end of the see-saw was up the other must be down; and it was Columbus who now found himself high up in the heavens of favour, and Bobadilla who was seated in the dust.

    Christopher Columbus Young, Filson 1906

  • Down-streaming light, the hour, the stillness -- a soul unsteadfast would have shrunk as from an apparition.

    Sir Mortimer Mary Johnston 1903

  • The peacock hath an unsteadfast and evil shapen head, as it were the head of a serpent, and with a crest.

    Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus Robert Steele 1902

  • When he is taken he is made blind with a bright basin, and bound with chains, and compelled to play, and tamed with beating; and is an unsteadfast beast, and unstable and uneasy, and goeth therefore all day about the stake, to the which he is strongly tied.

    Mediaeval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus Robert Steele 1902

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