1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. erratic

Find the word definition

What is "erratic"

Crossword clues for erratic

erratic
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
erratic
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
more
▪ But as the subject's brain function becomes increasingly impaired these movements become more and more erratic.
▪ The history of the Federal Republic might then have followed a more erratic course.
▪ This flutter is different from a wobble in that the movement of the ball is quicker and more erratic.
▪ His fears were no doubt compounded by the fact that Vivien's behaviour was becoming more and more erratic.
▪ In his collection of the works of contemporaries Scott's policy was more erratic.
▪ Informal groups are looser, more erratic in their behaviour and often much more fun.
▪ A recent upset or altercation can unsettle some one with severe dementia, making behaviour even more erratic.
▪ She mothered all of them in a way that Jennie could not now she was becoming more erratic.
■ NOUN
behaviour
▪ Often the only striking feature of such a representation is the very erratic behaviour of the observations in relation to time.
▪ Dorman-Smith's erratic behaviour had exasperated him already.
▪ So I settle down to write her a letter explaining my erratic behaviour.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Heating was difficult owing to erratic supplies of gas, electricity and water.
▪ Her behaviour was becoming more and more erratic.
▪ The erratic winds made fighting the fire more difficult.
▪ The company's erratic performance is a cause for some concern.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A muscle near her right cheekbone fluttered at erratic intervals, and the nail polish was chipped.
▪ Ames had long been erratic and unhappy in his professional and personal lives.
▪ And Laura begins to wonder why her husband has become so erratic.
▪ But when it comes to his fellow-countrymen and old school contemporaries, he becomes worryingly erratic.
▪ Given an unsuitable feeding place, they may become erratic in their response to food.
▪ He said she acted erratic, got the shakes one evening and almost had a nervous breakdown.
▪ I listened to the raven songs, and my eyes followed others in their erratic journeys all over the pastel landscape.
▪ The results of the rest of the sale were wildly erratic with 36 percent left unsold.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Erratic

Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, n.

  1. One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual character.

  2. A rogue. [Obs.]
    --Cockeram.

  3. (Geol.) Any stone or material that has been borne away from its original site by natural agencies; esp., a large block or fragment of rock; a bowlder.

    Note: In the plural the term is applied especially to the loose gravel and stones on the earth's surface, including what is called drift.

Erratic

Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, a. [L. erraticus, fr. errare to wander: cf. F. erratique. See Err.]

  1. Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.

    The earth and each erratic world.
    --Blackmore.

  2. Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; strange; queer; as, erratic conduct.

  3. Irregular; changeable. ``Erratic fever.''
    --Harvey.

    Erratic blocks, gravel, etc. (Geol.), masses of stone which have been transported from their original resting places by the agency of water, ice, or other causes.

    Erratic phenomena, the phenomena which relate to transported materials on the earth's surface.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
erratic

late 14c., "wandering, moving," from Old French erratique "wandering, vagrant" (13c.) and directly from Latin erraticus "wandering, straying, roving," from erratum "an error, mistake, fault," past participle of errare "to wander, err" (see err). Sense of "irregular, eccentric" is attested by 1841. The noun is from 1620s, of persons; 1849, of boulders. Related: Erratically.

Wiktionary
erratic

a. 1 unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent 2 Deviating from the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; odd. n. 1 (context geology English) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier. 2 Anything that has erratic characteristics.

Related phrases:
WordNet
erratic

  1. adj. having no fixed course; "an erratic comet"; "his life followed a wandering course"; "a planetary vagabond" [syn: planetary, wandering]

  2. liable to sudden unpredictable change; "erratic behavior"; "fickle weather"; "mercurial twists of temperament"; "a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next" [syn: fickle, mercurial, quicksilver(a)]

  3. likely to perform unpredictably; "erratic winds are the bane of a sailor"; "a temperamental motor; sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn't"; "that beautiful but temperamental instrument the flute"- Osbert Lancaster [syn: temperamental]

Wikipedia
Erratic

Erratic may refer to:

  • Erratic, a project of music artist Jan Robbe
  • Glacial erratic, a piece of rock that differs from the size and type of rock native to the area in which it rests
  • Erratic ant (Tapinoma erraticum), a species of ant

<!-- This long comment was added to the page to prevent it being listed on Special:Shortpages. It and the accompanying monitoring template were generated via Template:Longcomment. Please do not remove the monitor template without removing the comment as well.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "erratic".

She tottered after several aflight and erratic cards, stepping out of her step-in mules.

The service can be erratic and buses are sometimes delayed, but there is a stop at the end of the road and I rarely have to wait more than five minutes.

Angus led the old garron to the place called Clachan Knowe where big erratic boulders sprouted from the heather like henge-stones.

The Demesne absolute of a Seer is small, a few paces across, and the power use is erratic.

His erratic but distinctive Talent, however, made known the presence of a number of approaching sentients by detecting and conveying what they were feeling directly to his empathetic mind.

And watching her erratic walk, Hawes was certain that the liquid in her hand was not the high explosive she claimed it was.

Certain fish and toads that live in desert regions hibernate for long years, until the erratic rainfall returns and summons them back to life.

The unnerving tension of expecting it every second made them erratic and nervous to the nth degree.

First operation, spreading of rumours that the erratic Osmond was a drug addict.

If the tiny muscles attached to them are damaged, or if the nerves leading to those muscles are, the ossicle movements become somewhat erratic.

For apart from his faculty of speech, his voluntary motor reflexesand even those were erratic, though Nixie said that would passand the unconscious regulatory functions that his brain supported, everything in his nervous system that had once contributed to the identity of Hans Baumer had apparently been completely obliterated.

Her heart rhumbaed, salsaed, and slow-grooved in her chest, igniting an erratic flow of blood to her body parts.

Meanwhile her guardian was busy rucking up the legs of the bloomers and drawers beneath to expose the shapely, plump round thighs in their sheer silken sheaths, and lone wailed and squirmed over the dome, her magnificent young bosom in erratic upheaval.

Of all the men who relied on their ruggedness to carry them through, Brennon was the most wide open, the most erratic.

The coil of wire on the deck behind him was three hundred feet long, but because the bottom was shoaly and erratic, they had set the sensor at only fifty feet.