unstableadj.

Brit.

/(ˌ)ʌnˈsteɪbl/, U.S.

/ˌənˈsteɪb(ə)l/

Etymology: un- prefix¹ 1 Compare obsolete Dutch onstabel, Middle High German unstabel.

a. Not remaining steadily in the same place; apt to move or be moved about.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > [adjective] > tending or disposed to

unstable?c1225

movablea1382

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 99 Ne schaweð ha þet ha is dust & vnstable þing þe wið alutel word wind is anan to blawen.

a1340 R. Rolle Psalter x. 1 If i doe i sall be like a sparou, þat is, vnstabile and lyght.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. iv. 14 Y schal be vnstable of dwellyng and fleynge aboute in erthe.

1483 Cath. Angl. 357/2 Vn Stabylle, argus, vagus.

1597 R. Tofte Laura i. xviii. sig. B2 If Sea no other thing doth shew to bee Than most vnstable waters moouing oft.

1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 91 Sands..in great drifts..so light and vnstable, that the high wayes are neuer certaine.

1653 W. Ramesey Astrologia Restaurata 179 Aries,..though it be a sign fiery, yet is it moveable and unstable.

b. Not steady in position; readily swaying or shaking; liable to swing or fall.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > unsteady movement > [adjective] > tottering > unstable

unstable1390

unsteadfasta1400

tickle1515

unstayed1594

unsteady1598

shittle1601

firmless1605

flitty1642

totty1652

shuttlec1682

unfirm1697

wankly1795

wankya1825

cockery1825

wobbly1833

tottlish1835

earthquaky1837

tottling1849

shaky1850

cockly1859

unsteadied1865

shoggy1866

wankle1869

wibblety-wobblety1877

cockerty1895

tipsy1895

rocky1900

wibbly-wobbly1901

tottly1905

topply1913

wibbly1914

1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis I. 200 Now herke how thilke unstable whel, Which evere torneth, wente aboute.

1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. xi. 37 Stonde he neuere so styfliche þorgh sterynge of the bote, He bendeþ and boweþ, þe body is vnstable.

a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Cock & Fox l. 595 in Poems (1981) 27 Thy strenth is nocht, thy stule standis vnstabill.

a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) 20 Remembraunce so foloweth me of that face, So that with tery yen swolne and vnstable, My destyne to behold her doeth me lede.

1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 106 As quheill vnstabill and caffe befoir the wind.

1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne xix. xiii. 339 When the still windes stirre not th' vnstable maine.

1736 J. Thomson Britain: 4th Pt. Liberty 302 On each hand Amazing seen amid unstable waves, The splendid palace shines.

1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 3 A strange people..who have founded an empire on this unstable element [sc. the ocean].

1857 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. I. vii. 347 The sailor is naturally more superstitious than the soldier, because he has to deal with a more unstable element.

1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism I. 141 The body therefore is unstable even when constrained to move parallel to itself, à fortiori it is unstable when altogether free.

c. Of movement: Unsteady; irregular.

ΚΠ

c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) vi. 42 It makkis ane onstabil reuolution in thre hundretht xlviij dais.

1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. xii. 308 Down he came, with an unstable step and a strong flavour of wine.

d. Mechanics. Of equilibrium.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > inequality > [adjective] > unbalanced

tickle1515

instable1599

untrimmeda1732

unbalanced1733

uncounterbalanced1780

bottom-heavy1819

unstable1839

out of balance1920

off-kilter1985

1839 G. Bird Elements Nat. Philos. 31 The body will be in a state of unstable equilibrium.

1860 All Year Round 18 Aug. 450 An acrobat balances a ladder on his shoulder; on the ladder, perhaps will mount a child... The whole are in unstable equilibrium.

2. Not stable in purpose; vacillating, fickle, changeable.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective]

unfastc888

unstathelfasteOE

unsteadfasta1200

fleeting?c1225

changeablea1275

ficklea1275

unstablec1290

waveringc1315

flickerc1325

loose in the haftc1325

motleyc1380

unsadc1384

variablea1387

variantc1386

ticklec1400

inconstant1402

flitting1413

brittle1420

plianta1425

mutablec1425

shittle1440

shittle-witted1448

moonishc1450

unconstant1483

unfirm1483

varying?a1500

pliablea1513

fluctuant1575

changeling1577

shittle-headed1580

cheverel1583

off and on1583

chameleon-like1589

changeful1590

limber1602

unsteady1604

ticklish1606

skittish1609

startling1619

labile1623

uncertaina1625

cheverelized1625

remuant1625

fluctuate1631

fluctuary1632

various1636

contrarious1643

epileptical1646

fluxilea1654

shittle-braineda1655

multivolent1656

totter-headed1662

on and off1668

self-inconsistent1678

weathercocka1680

whifflinga1680

versatile1682

veering1684

fast and loose1697

inconsistent1709

insteadfast1728

unfixing1810

unsteadied1814

chameleonic1821

labefact1874

ballastless1884

weathercocky1886

whiffle-minded1902

c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 319/685 Wrathþe he berth luytel ȝwyle:..Glad and bliþe, and onstable of þat he hath to done.

1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. 10507 He made of þe olde lawes is chartre atte laste,..& aselede is vaste inou, Ac suþþe as vnstable man wiþ sede & wiþ drou.

c1305 Pilate 183 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 116 Alle þat ihurde þis cas Wondrede moche of þemperour, þat he vnstable was.

c1380 J. Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 10 Þis Emperour..was unstable as watir.

c1450 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi iii. l. 121 Euery man is a lyer, sike, unstable, and slydyng.

c1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 588 Woman, why art þou so onstabyll?.. why art þou a-ȝens god so veryabyll?

1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII c. 11 Many lyght and unstable Persons.

c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 8057 Hit is a propertie apreuit..To all wemen..To be vnstable & not stidfast.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. xxxviii The Cambers otherwise called the vnstable Welshemen.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iii. i. 151 It must omit Reall Necessities, and giue way the while To vnstable Slightnesse.

1673 J. Milton Psalm V in Poems (new ed.) 136 In his faltring mouth unstable No word is firm.

1698 R. South 12 Serm. III. 256 Such Pretenders may beguile Factious and Vnstable Minds.

1791 ‘P. Pindar’ Lousiad: Canto III 11 [A deed] Which Cain perform'd, in godliness unstable.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xv. 613 His nature, lamentably unstable, was not ignoble.

1891 F. W. Farrar Darkness & Dawn I. xxv. 244 Onesimus was too unstable to withstand the combined temptations by which he was surrounded.

absolute.1582 Bible (Rheims) 2 Pet. iii. 16 Certaine things hard to be vnderstoode, which the vnlearned and vnstable depraue.1630 H. Lynde (title) Via Devia: The By-Way: Mis-leading the weake and vnstable into dangerous paths of Error.1649 R. Baxter Saints Everlasting Rest (new ed.) iii. xi. §18. 497 Drawing off the unstable from the doctrine and way of life.

a. Not fixed in character or condition; exposed to vicissitude or chance; apt to change or alter; variable.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > change > changeableness > [adjective]

slidinga900

wankleeOE

windyc1000

unsteadfastc1200

fleeting?c1225

loose?c1225

brotelc1315

unstablec1340

varyingc1340

variantc1374

motleyc1380

ungroundedc1380

muablea1393

passiblea1393

remuablea1393

changeablea1398

movablea1398

variablec1397

slidderya1400

ticklec1400

variantc1412

flitting1413

mutable?a1425

movingc1425

flaskisable1430

flickering1430

transmutablec1430

vertible1447

brittlea1450

ficklea1450

permutablec1450

unfirmc1450

uncertain1477

turnable1483

unsteadfast1483

vagrantc1522

inconstant1526

alterable?1531

stirringc1540

slippery1548

various1552

slid?1553

mutala1561

rolling1561

weathery1563

unconstant1568

interchangeable1574

fluctuant1575

stayless1575

transitive1575

voluble1575

changeling1577

queasy1579

desultory1581

huff-puff1582

unstaid1586

vagrant1586

changeful1590

floating1594

Protean1594

unstayed1594

swimming1596

anchorless1597

mobilec1600

ticklish1601

catching1603

labile1603

unrooted1604

quicksilvered1605

versatile1605

insubstantial1607

uncertain1609

brandling1611

rootless1611

squeasy1611

wind-changinga1616

insolid1618

ambulatory1625

versatilous1629

plastic1633

desultorious1637

unbottomed1641

fluid1642

fluent1648

yea-and-nay1648

versipellous1650

flexile1651

uncentred1652

variating1653

chequered1656

slideable1662

transchangeative1662

weathercock-like1663

flicketing1674

fluxa1677

lapsable1678

wanton1681

veering1684

upon the weathercock1702

contingent1703

unsettled?1726

fermentable1731

afloat1757

brickle1768

wavy1795

vagarious1798

unsettled1803

fitful1810

metamorphosical1811

undulating1815

tittupya1817

titubant1817

mutative1818

papier mâché1818

teetotum1819

vacillating1822

capricious1823

sensitive1828

quicksilvery1829

unengrafted1829

fluxionala1834

proteiform1833

liquid1835

tottlish1835

kaleidoscopic1846

versative1846

kaleidoscopical1858

tottery1861

choppy1865

variative1874

variational1879

wimbly-wambly1881

fluctuable1882

shifty1882

giveable1884

shifty1884

tippy1886

mutatory1890

upsettable1890

rocky1897

undulatory1897

streaky1898

tottly1905

tipply1906

up and down1907

inertialess1927

sometimey1946

rise-and-fall1950

switchable1961

c1340 R. Rolle Pricke of Conscience 1420 Þe worlde is swa unstable, Alle þat men sese þar-in es chaungeable.

c1375 Lay Folks Mass-bk. (MS. B.) 390 Þo weders grete & vnstable, Lord make gode.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 139 Hap was vnstable and vnstedefast; ones wiþ þat oon side, and eft wiþ þat oþer.

c1412 T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum 705 O lord! þis world vnstabyl is.

c1450 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi iii. lxiv. 149 I finde all vnferme & vnstable, what euere I beholde oute of þe.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xi. viii. 118 The variant chance Of our onstabill lyfe.

a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) 59 Vnstable dreme..Be stedfast ons: or els at leist be true.

a1642 F. Kynaston Leoline & Sydanis 141 O wretched state unstable Of mortal men!

1657 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) 560 These giddy and unstable times.

1768 J. Boswell Acct. Corsica ii. 73 The Genoese..were.. in an unstable, and perilous condition.

1796 F. Burney Camilla III. v. v. 75 We must allow to our unstable virtues all the encouragement that can prop them.

1796 F. Burney Camilla V. x. xiv. 540 The perpetual vicissitudes of our unstable condition.

1829 T. Hood Dream Eugene Aram in Gem 1 111 Or is it some historic page, Of kings and crowns unstable?

1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. iii. iii. 628 That all oligarchies and democracies are unstable.

1884 R. W. Church Bacon ix. 223 English seemed to him too homely to express the hopes of the world, too unstable to be trusted with them.

b. spec. in Chemistry.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > [adjective] > of or relating to compounds > stable > not

unstable1849

1849 D. Campbell Pract. Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. 216 Its [sc. suboxide of copper] salts are very unstable.

1857 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. III. 59 Grape sugar forms definite but unstable combinations with the alkaline bases.

1890 Retrospect Med. 102 2 The chloral hydrate is, comparatively, an unstable compound.

c. Physics. (Cf. stable adj. 3d.)

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactive isotope > radioactive nuclide > [adjective] > subject to spontaneous decay

unstable1904

1904 F. Soddy Radio-activity viii. 123 Our knowledge of unstable atoms is necessarily limited.

1904 F. Soddy Radio-activity viii. 124 Radio~activity..has thus introduced us to a whole series of new unstable elements.

1924 O. Lodge Atoms & Rays ii. 33 The possibility of building up still more complex, and probably still more unstable, elements..remains a subject for future discovery.

1981 C. E. Swartz Phenomenal Physics xxxiii. 715 Most elements exist naturally as a mixture of several isotopes... The diagram shows all of the stable isotopes, and many of the unstable ones.

4. Not firm or solid; insecure.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [adjective] > insecure

unfastc888

unsure1426

unassuredc1430

unstable1565

insecurea1808

1565 J. Jewel Replie Hardinges Answeare (title page) The weake, and vnstable groundes of the Romaine Religion.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 597 The Earth was couered with sand, which yeelded an vnstable footing.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	unstable
释义	unstableadj. Brit. /(ˌ)ʌnˈsteɪbl/, U.S. /ˌənˈsteɪb(ə)l/ Etymology: un- prefix¹ 1 Compare obsolete Dutch onstabel, Middle High German unstabel. 1. a. Not remaining steadily in the same place; apt to move or be moved about. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > [adjective] > tending or disposed to unstable?c1225 movablea1382 ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 99 Ne schaweð ha þet ha is dust & vnstable þing þe wið alutel word wind is anan to blawen. a1340 R. Rolle Psalter x. 1 If i doe i sall be like a sparou, þat is, vnstabile and lyght. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Gen. iv. 14 Y schal be vnstable of dwellyng and fleynge aboute in erthe. 1483 Cath. Angl. 357/2 Vn Stabylle, argus, vagus. 1597 R. Tofte Laura i. xviii. sig. B2 If Sea no other thing doth shew to bee Than most vnstable waters moouing oft. 1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 91 Sands..in great drifts..so light and vnstable, that the high wayes are neuer certaine. 1653 W. Ramesey Astrologia Restaurata 179 Aries,..though it be a sign fiery, yet is it moveable and unstable. b. Not steady in position; readily swaying or shaking; liable to swing or fall. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > unsteady movement > [adjective] > tottering > unstable unstable1390 unsteadfasta1400 tickle1515 unstayed1594 unsteady1598 shittle1601 firmless1605 flitty1642 totty1652 shuttlec1682 unfirm1697 wankly1795 wankya1825 cockery1825 wobbly1833 tottlish1835 earthquaky1837 tottling1849 shaky1850 cockly1859 unsteadied1865 shoggy1866 wankle1869 wibblety-wobblety1877 cockerty1895 tipsy1895 rocky1900 wibbly-wobbly1901 tottly1905 topply1913 wibbly1914 1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis I. 200 Now herke how thilke unstable whel, Which evere torneth, wente aboute. 1393 W. Langland Piers Plowman C. xi. 37 Stonde he neuere so styfliche þorgh sterynge of the bote, He bendeþ and boweþ, þe body is vnstable. a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Cock & Fox l. 595 in Poems (1981) 27 Thy strenth is nocht, thy stule standis vnstabill. a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) 20 Remembraunce so foloweth me of that face, So that with tery yen swolne and vnstable, My destyne to behold her doeth me lede. 1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 106 As quheill vnstabill and caffe befoir the wind. 1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne xix. xiii. 339 When the still windes stirre not th' vnstable maine. 1736 J. Thomson Britain: 4th Pt. Liberty 302 On each hand Amazing seen amid unstable waves, The splendid palace shines. 1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. 3 A strange people..who have founded an empire on this unstable element [sc. the ocean]. 1857 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. I. vii. 347 The sailor is naturally more superstitious than the soldier, because he has to deal with a more unstable element. 1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism I. 141 The body therefore is unstable even when constrained to move parallel to itself, à fortiori it is unstable when altogether free. c. Of movement: Unsteady; irregular. ΚΠ c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) vi. 42 It makkis ane onstabil reuolution in thre hundretht xlviij dais. 1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. xii. 308 Down he came, with an unstable step and a strong flavour of wine. d. Mechanics. Of equilibrium. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > inequality > [adjective] > unbalanced tickle1515 instable1599 untrimmeda1732 unbalanced1733 uncounterbalanced1780 bottom-heavy1819 unstable1839 out of balance1920 off-kilter1985 1839 G. Bird Elements Nat. Philos. 31 The body will be in a state of unstable equilibrium. 1860 All Year Round 18 Aug. 450 An acrobat balances a ladder on his shoulder; on the ladder, perhaps will mount a child... The whole are in unstable equilibrium. 2. Not stable in purpose; vacillating, fickle, changeable. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective] unfastc888 unstathelfasteOE unsteadfasta1200 fleeting?c1225 changeablea1275 ficklea1275 unstablec1290 waveringc1315 flickerc1325 loose in the haftc1325 motleyc1380 unsadc1384 variablea1387 variantc1386 ticklec1400 inconstant1402 flitting1413 brittle1420 plianta1425 mutablec1425 shittle1440 shittle-witted1448 moonishc1450 unconstant1483 unfirm1483 varying?a1500 pliablea1513 fluctuant1575 changeling1577 shittle-headed1580 cheverel1583 off and on1583 chameleon-like1589 changeful1590 limber1602 unsteady1604 ticklish1606 skittish1609 startling1619 labile1623 uncertaina1625 cheverelized1625 remuant1625 fluctuate1631 fluctuary1632 various1636 contrarious1643 epileptical1646 fluxilea1654 shittle-braineda1655 multivolent1656 totter-headed1662 on and off1668 self-inconsistent1678 weathercocka1680 whifflinga1680 versatile1682 veering1684 fast and loose1697 inconsistent1709 insteadfast1728 unfixing1810 unsteadied1814 chameleonic1821 labefact1874 ballastless1884 weathercocky1886 whiffle-minded1902 c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 319/685 Wrathþe he berth luytel ȝwyle:..Glad and bliþe, and onstable of þat he hath to done. 1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. 10507 He made of þe olde lawes is chartre atte laste,..& aselede is vaste inou, Ac suþþe as vnstable man wiþ sede & wiþ drou. c1305 Pilate 183 in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 116 Alle þat ihurde þis cas Wondrede moche of þemperour, þat he vnstable was. c1380 J. Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 10 Þis Emperour..was unstable as watir. c1450 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi iii. l. 121 Euery man is a lyer, sike, unstable, and slydyng. c1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 588 Woman, why art þou so onstabyll?.. why art þou a-ȝens god so veryabyll? 1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII c. 11 Many lyght and unstable Persons. c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 8057 Hit is a propertie apreuit..To all wemen..To be vnstable & not stidfast. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry V f. xxxviii The Cambers otherwise called the vnstable Welshemen. a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iii. i. 151 It must omit Reall Necessities, and giue way the while To vnstable Slightnesse. View more context for this quotation 1673 J. Milton Psalm V in Poems (new ed.) 136 In his faltring mouth unstable No word is firm. 1698 R. South 12 Serm. III. 256 Such Pretenders may beguile Factious and Vnstable Minds. 1791 ‘P. Pindar’ Lousiad: Canto III 11 [A deed] Which Cain perform'd, in godliness unstable. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xv. 613 His nature, lamentably unstable, was not ignoble. 1891 F. W. Farrar Darkness & Dawn I. xxv. 244 Onesimus was too unstable to withstand the combined temptations by which he was surrounded. absolute.1582 Bible (Rheims) 2 Pet. iii. 16 Certaine things hard to be vnderstoode, which the vnlearned and vnstable depraue.1630 H. Lynde (title) Via Devia: The By-Way: Mis-leading the weake and vnstable into dangerous paths of Error.1649 R. Baxter Saints Everlasting Rest (new ed.) iii. xi. §18. 497 Drawing off the unstable from the doctrine and way of life. 3. a. Not fixed in character or condition; exposed to vicissitude or chance; apt to change or alter; variable. ΘΚΠ the world > time > change > changeableness > [adjective] slidinga900 wankleeOE windyc1000 unsteadfastc1200 fleeting?c1225 loose?c1225 brotelc1315 unstablec1340 varyingc1340 variantc1374 motleyc1380 ungroundedc1380 muablea1393 passiblea1393 remuablea1393 changeablea1398 movablea1398 variablec1397 slidderya1400 ticklec1400 variantc1412 flitting1413 mutable?a1425 movingc1425 flaskisable1430 flickering1430 transmutablec1430 vertible1447 brittlea1450 ficklea1450 permutablec1450 unfirmc1450 uncertain1477 turnable1483 unsteadfast1483 vagrantc1522 inconstant1526 alterable?1531 stirringc1540 slippery1548 various1552 slid?1553 mutala1561 rolling1561 weathery1563 unconstant1568 interchangeable1574 fluctuant1575 stayless1575 transitive1575 voluble1575 changeling1577 queasy1579 desultory1581 huff-puff1582 unstaid1586 vagrant1586 changeful1590 floating1594 Protean1594 unstayed1594 swimming1596 anchorless1597 mobilec1600 ticklish1601 catching1603 labile1603 unrooted1604 quicksilvered1605 versatile1605 insubstantial1607 uncertain1609 brandling1611 rootless1611 squeasy1611 wind-changinga1616 insolid1618 ambulatory1625 versatilous1629 plastic1633 desultorious1637 unbottomed1641 fluid1642 fluent1648 yea-and-nay1648 versipellous1650 flexile1651 uncentred1652 variating1653 chequered1656 slideable1662 transchangeative1662 weathercock-like1663 flicketing1674 fluxa1677 lapsable1678 wanton1681 veering1684 upon the weathercock1702 contingent1703 unsettled?1726 fermentable1731 afloat1757 brickle1768 wavy1795 vagarious1798 unsettled1803 fitful1810 metamorphosical1811 undulating1815 tittupya1817 titubant1817 mutative1818 papier mâché1818 teetotum1819 vacillating1822 capricious1823 sensitive1828 quicksilvery1829 unengrafted1829 fluxionala1834 proteiform1833 liquid1835 tottlish1835 kaleidoscopic1846 versative1846 kaleidoscopical1858 tottery1861 choppy1865 variative1874 variational1879 wimbly-wambly1881 fluctuable1882 shifty1882 giveable1884 shifty1884 tippy1886 mutatory1890 upsettable1890 rocky1897 undulatory1897 streaky1898 tottly1905 tipply1906 up and down1907 inertialess1927 sometimey1946 rise-and-fall1950 switchable1961 c1340 R. Rolle Pricke of Conscience 1420 Þe worlde is swa unstable, Alle þat men sese þar-in es chaungeable. c1375 Lay Folks Mass-bk. (MS. B.) 390 Þo weders grete & vnstable, Lord make gode. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 139 Hap was vnstable and vnstedefast; ones wiþ þat oon side, and eft wiþ þat oþer. c1412 T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum 705 O lord! þis world vnstabyl is. c1450 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi iii. lxiv. 149 I finde all vnferme & vnstable, what euere I beholde oute of þe. 1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xi. viii. 118 The variant chance Of our onstabill lyfe. a1542 T. Wyatt Coll. Poems (1969) 59 Vnstable dreme..Be stedfast ons: or els at leist be true. a1642 F. Kynaston Leoline & Sydanis 141 O wretched state unstable Of mortal men! 1657 in F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) 560 These giddy and unstable times. 1768 J. Boswell Acct. Corsica ii. 73 The Genoese..were.. in an unstable, and perilous condition. 1796 F. Burney Camilla III. v. v. 75 We must allow to our unstable virtues all the encouragement that can prop them. 1796 F. Burney Camilla V. x. xiv. 540 The perpetual vicissitudes of our unstable condition. 1829 T. Hood Dream Eugene Aram in Gem 1 111 Or is it some historic page, Of kings and crowns unstable? 1863 H. Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. iii. iii. 628 That all oligarchies and democracies are unstable. 1884 R. W. Church Bacon ix. 223 English seemed to him too homely to express the hopes of the world, too unstable to be trusted with them. b. spec. in Chemistry. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > [adjective] > of or relating to compounds > stable > not unstable1849 1849 D. Campbell Pract. Text-bk. Inorg. Chem. 216 Its [sc. suboxide of copper] salts are very unstable. 1857 W. A. Miller Elements Chem. III. 59 Grape sugar forms definite but unstable combinations with the alkaline bases. 1890 Retrospect Med. 102 2 The chloral hydrate is, comparatively, an unstable compound. c. Physics. (Cf. stable adj. 3d.) ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactive isotope > radioactive nuclide > [adjective] > subject to spontaneous decay unstable1904 1904 F. Soddy Radio-activity viii. 123 Our knowledge of unstable atoms is necessarily limited. 1904 F. Soddy Radio-activity viii. 124 Radio~activity..has thus introduced us to a whole series of new unstable elements. 1924 O. Lodge Atoms & Rays ii. 33 The possibility of building up still more complex, and probably still more unstable, elements..remains a subject for future discovery. 1981 C. E. Swartz Phenomenal Physics xxxiii. 715 Most elements exist naturally as a mixture of several isotopes... The diagram shows all of the stable isotopes, and many of the unstable ones. 4. Not firm or solid; insecure. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [adjective] > insecure unfastc888 unsure1426 unassuredc1430 unstable1565 insecurea1808 1565 J. Jewel Replie Hardinges Answeare (title page) The weake, and vnstable groundes of the Romaine Religion. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 597 The Earth was couered with sand, which yeelded an vnstable footing. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2021). unstablev. Brit. /(ˌ)ʌnˈsteɪbl/, U.S. /ˌənˈsteɪb(ə)l/ Etymology: un- prefix² 1c. †transitive. To free of. ΘΚΠ the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > get or be rid of > rid of something cleansea1250 quita1387 unladea1398 deliverc1400 quiet1450 clear1535 discussa1542 free1590 unload1591 unstable1612 deonerate1623 discard1656 1612 T. Adams Gallants Burden f. 32 If our harts be vnstabled of these beastiall lusts. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < adj.?c1225v.1612
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unstableadj.

unstablev.