Fickle
//ˈfɪk.əl// adj, name, verb
adj, name, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To deceive, flatter. transitive
- 2 To puzzle, perplex, nonplus. UK, dialectal, transitive
Adjective
- 1 Quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance; insincere; not loyal or reliable.
"O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle, / If thou art fickle, what doſt thou with him / That is renown'd for faith? be fickle Fortune: / For then I hope thou wilt not keepe him long, / But ſend him backe."
- 2 Changeable. figuratively
"fickle breeze"
Adjective
- 1 liable to sudden unpredictable change wordnet
- 2 marked by erratic changeableness in affections or attachments wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Man is as fickle as autumn weather."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English fikil, fikel, from Old English ficol (“fickle, cunning, tricky, deceitful”), equivalent to fike + -le. More at fike.
Etymology 2
From Middle English fikelen, from fikel (“fickle”); see above. Cognate with Low German fikkelen (“to deceive, flatter”), German ficklen, ficheln (“to deceive, flatter”).
Related phrases
More for "fickle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.