[
US
/ɪˈɹætɪk/
]
[ UK /ɛɹˈætɪk/ ]
[ UK /ɛɹˈætɪk/ ]
ADJECTIVE
-
having no fixed course
a planetary vagabond
an erratic comet
his life followed a wandering course -
likely to perform unpredictably
that beautiful but temperamental instrument the flute
erratic winds are the bane of a sailor
a temperamental motor; sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn't -
liable to sudden unpredictable change
mercurial twists of temperament
fickle weather
a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next
erratic behavior
How To Use erratic In A Sentence
- Rubbish advice The erratic bin collections over the past few weeks have left me struggling to cope with all our household rubbish. Times, Sunday Times
- The hanging-wall zone contained 33% of the copper and was the most erratic and discontinuous zone.
- In my scenario, the Senator tells the drowning person that it was the flailing non-swimmer's fault for falling in and not learning how to swim, not the Senator's doing, just before the erratic splasher goes under the surface for the last time. Norman Cressy: Musings II
- The road itself twisted and contorted as much as the river as it dodged through and around clusters of trees and boulders: indigenous and erratics.
- Querulousness, arrogance and an erratic streak alienated even his closest supporters, dooming his place in history.
- This week light was shed on the possible reasons behind this erratic display. Times, Sunday Times
- On return home, was remembering my brother's good suggestion that changing mouse mat might be the answer to the frantic behaviour of the cursor on my desktop machine; since I bought the desktop an emac, with optical mouse it has skipped around erratically at seemingly-random times. Wriggly thing in hair
- There is also high political risk resulting from the government's erratic and unpredictable policies. Times, Sunday Times
- He was beginning to be able to interpret the erratic gestures of her left arm.
- Did the jury feel that some of the most damning evidence against Scott Peterson was his own erratic behavior, such as dyeing his hair, growing a beard, preparing to leave the country? CNN Transcript Dec 14, 2004