erratic : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: erratic	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for erratic
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
erratic adj 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" Synonym(s): erratic, fickle, mercurial, quicksilver(a) having no fixed course; "an erratic comet"; "his life followed a wandering course"; "a planetary vagabond" Synonym(s): erratic, planetary, wandering 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 Synonym(s): erratic, temperamental
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Erratic \Errat"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. [bd]Erratic fever.[b8] --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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, n. 1. One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual character.