Erratic

//ɪˈɹætɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.

    "The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic, but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks."

  2. 2
    Anything that has erratic characteristics.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent.

    "Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week."

  2. 2
    Deviating from normal opinions or actions; eccentric; odd.

    "erratic conduct"

Adjective
  1. 1
    liable to sudden unpredictable change wordnet
  2. 2
    likely to perform unpredictably wordnet
  3. 3
    having no fixed course wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
planetaryunreliableaberrantaberrativeabnormaladrift

Example

More examples

"We had to lessen the impact of the erratic supplies."

Etymology

From Middle English erratik, erratyk, from Latin errāticus; compare Old French erratique.

Related phrases

glacial erraticknight-erratic

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.