erratic

English

WOTD – 13 August 2012    

Alternative forms

• erratick, erraticke, erratique (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French erratique, from Latin erraticus.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈrætɪk/
• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Adjective

erratic (comparative more erratic, superlative most erratic)

1. unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent

   Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.

2. Deviating from the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; odd.

   erratic conduct

Derived terms

• erratically

Antonyms

• consistent

Translations

unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent

• Armenian: անկանոն (hy) (ankanon), անհաստատ (hy) (anhastat), անկայուն (hy) (ankayun)
• Bulgarian: непостоянен (bg) (nepostojanen), изменчив (bg) (izmenčiv)
• Dutch: onregelmatig (nl)
• Finnish: epätasainen (fi), epäsäännöllinen (fi), epävakaa (fi), ailahteleva (fi)

• German: (geology) erratisch (de), unstet (de), unregelmäßig (de)
• Russian: неравномерный (ru) (neravnomernyj). нерегулярный (ru) (nereguljarnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: eratičan (sh), iregularan (sh), neravnomjeran (sh), nekonzistentan (sh)
• Spanish: inconstante (es), irregular (es)

Noun

erratic (plural erratics)

1. (geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 372:

     The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic, but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.

2. Anything that has erratic characteristics.

Translations

rock

• Finnish: siirtolohkare (fi)
• German: Findling (de) m

• Spanish: bloque errático (es) m

Anagrams

• cirrate, rice rat