Word of the Day ·

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fickle

/ˈfɪk.əl/

adjective

What it means

  1. Quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance; insincere; not loyal or reliable.

    As night has such a local ring / And love and rock are fickle things

    2010, James Murphy, “Home”, in This Is Happening, performed by LCD Soundsystem
    2 more examples

    O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle, / If thou art fickle, what doſt thou with him / That is renown'd for faith? be fickle Fortune: / For then I hope thou wilt not keepe him long, / But ſend him backe.

    c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 69

    Still onward winds the dreary way; ⁠I with it; for I long to prove ⁠No lapse of moons can canker Love, Whatever fickle tongues may say.

    1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 43

    Synonyms: flighty, capricious, mercurial

  2. figurativelyChangeable.

    fickle breeze

    2 more examples

    fickle stock market

    2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text To the south, the vast geometrical deserts of Arabian nomads, a redoubt of feral movement, of fickle winds, of open space, of saddle leather—home to the wild Bedouin tribes.

    Synonyms: erratic, vertiginous, roving

In a sentence

O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle, / If thou art fickle, what doſt thou with him / That is renown'd for faith? be fickle Fortune: / For then I hope thou wilt not keepe him long, / But ſend him backe.

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 69

Where it comes from

  1. Old Englishficol“fickle, cunning, tricky, deceitful”
  2. Middle Englishfikil
  3. Englishfickle

From Middle English fikil, fikel, from Old English ficol (“fickle, cunning, tricky, deceitful”), equivalent to fike + -le. More at fike.

Full entry for fickle →

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