Instability

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Instability \In`sta*bil"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Instabilities}. [L.
     instabilitas: cf. F. instabilit['e].]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The quality or condition of being unstable; lack of
        stability, firmness, or steadiness; liability to give way
        or to fail; insecurity; precariousness; as, the


        instability of a building.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Lack of determination of fixedness; inconstancy;
        fickleness; mutability; changeableness; as, instability of
        character, temper, custom, etc. --Addison.
  
     Syn: Inconstancy; fickleness; changeableness; wavering;
          unsteadiness; unstableness.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  instability
       n 1: an unstable order [ant: {stability}]
       2: unreliability attributable to being unstable
       3: a state of disequilibrium (as may occur in cases of inner
          ear disease) [syn: {imbalance}, {unbalance}] [ant: {balance}]
       4: the quality or attribute of being unstable and irresolute
          [syn: {unstableness}] [ant: {stability}, {stability}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  146 Moby Thesaurus words for "instability":
     ambitendency, ambivalence, caducity, capriciousness, chanciness,
     change of mind, changeability, changeableness, choppiness,
     corruptibility, criticalness, danger, dappleness, death,
     decrepitude, delicacy, desultoriness, deviability, deviation,
     difference, differentiation, disorder, divarication, divergence,
     diversification, double-mindedness, doubtfulness, dubiety,
     dubiousness, eccentricity, ephemerality, ephemeralness, erraticism,
     evanescence, fence-sitting, fence-straddling, fickleness, finitude,
     fleetingness, flightiness, freakishness, fugacity, hazard,
     hazardousness, impermanence, impermanency, impulsiveness,
     incapacity, inconsistency, inconstancy, indecision, indecisiveness,
     inequality, infirmity, infirmity of purpose, insecurity,
     insipidity, insolidity, insubstantiality, invalidism, irregularity,
     irresolution, jerkiness, mercuriality, momentariness, moodiness,
     mortality, motleyness, mugwumpery, mugwumpism, mutability,
     nonconformism, nonconformity, nonstandardization, nonuniformity,
     peril, perilousness, perishability, pluralism, precariousness,
     raggedness, restlessness, ricketiness, risk, riskiness,
     second thoughts, senility, shakiness, shiftiness, shiftingness,
     slipperiness, speculativeness, sword of Damocles, tergiversation,
     ticklish business, ticklishness, totteriness, touchiness,
     transience, transiency, transientness, transitoriness,
     treacherousness, treachery, unauthenticity, unauthoritativeness,
     uncertainty, unconformism, unconformity, undecidedness,
     undependability, undeterminedness, unevenness, unfaithworthiness,
     unfirmness, unfixedness, unhealthiness, unorthodoxy,
     unpredictability, unreliability, unsafeness, unsettledness,
     unsettlement, unsolidity, unsoundness, unstableness,
     unsteadfastness, unsteadiness, unsturdiness, unsubstantiality,
     unsureness, untrustworthiness, vapidity, variability, variation,
     variegation, variety, variousness, versatility, volatility,
     wantonness, wateriness, wavering, waywardness, whimsicality,
     wishy-washiness