Unstable

3 definitions found

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

  Unstable \Un*sta"ble\, a. [Cf. {Instable}.]
     Not stable; not firm, fixed, or constant; subject to change
     or overthrow. -- {Un*sta"ble*ness}, n. --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Unstable equilibrium}. See {Stable equilibrium}, under


        {Stable}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  unstable
       adj 1: lacking stability or fixity or firmness; "unstable political
              conditions"; "the tower proved to be unstable in the
              high wind"; "an unstable world economy" [ant: {stable}]
       2: highly or violently reactive; "sensitive and highly unstable
          compounds"
       3: affording no ease or reassurance; "a precarious truce" [syn:
           {precarious}]
       4: suffering from severe mental illness; "of unsound mind"
          [syn: {mentally ill}, {unsound}]
       5: disposed to psychological variability; "his rather unstable
          religious convictions"
       6: subject to change; variable; "a fluid situation fraught with
          uncertainty"; "everything was unstable following the coup"
          [syn: {fluid}]

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

  197 Moby Thesaurus words for "unstable":
     adrift, afloat, alternating, ambiguous, amorphous, borderline,
     brittle, buoyant, canted, capricious, changeable, changeful,
     changing, choppy, corruptible, crumbling, dangerous, deciduous,
     decrepit, desultory, deviable, deviating, deviative, deviatory,
     dickey, different, disintegrating, disorderly, divaricate,
     divergent, diversified, diversiform, dizzy, doubtful, dubious,
     dying, eccentric, effervescent, elastic, ephemeral, erose, erratic,
     evanescent, fading, fast and loose, fickle, fitful, fleeting,
     flickering, flighty, flitting, fluctuant, fluctuating, fluid,
     fly-by-night, flying, fragile, frail, freakish, fugacious,
     fugitive, giddy, hazardous, heeling, ill-balanced, impermanent,
     impetuous, impulsive, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive,
     indefinite, infirm, insecure, insubstantial, irregular, irresolute,
     irresponsible, jagged, jerky, leaning, listing, lopsided,
     lubricious, mazy, mercurial, mobile, momentary, moody, mortal,
     motley, moving, mutable, nonconformist, nondurable, nonpermanent,
     nonstandard, nonuniform, off-balance, overbalanced, passing,
     perilous, perishable, pluralistic, poor, poorish, precarious,
     protean, provisional, ragged, rambling, resilient, restless, risky,
     rocky, rootless, rotten, rotten at, rough, roving, scatterbrained,
     shaky, shapeless, short-lived, shuffling, slippery, spasmodic,
     spineless, sporadic, suspect, temperamental, temporal, temporary,
     tentative, tergiversating, ticklish, top-heavy, tottery, transient,
     transitive, transitory, treacherous, tricky, unaccountable,
     unbalanced, uncertain, uncontrolled, undecided, undependable,
     undisciplined, undurable, unenduring, unequable, unequal, uneven,
     unfaithworthy, unfirm, unfixed, unhealthy, unorthodox,
     unpredictable, unreliable, unrestrained, unsafe, unsettled,
     unsolid, unsound, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast,
     unsteady, unsturdy, unsubstantial, unsure, unsystematic,
     untrustworthy, ununiform, vacillating, vagrant, variable,
     variegated, variform, various, varying, vicissitudinary,
     vicissitudinous, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery,
     wavy, wayward, weak, whimsical, wishy-washy, wobbly