fickle
/ˈfɪk.əl/
fickle adjective: quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance; insincere; not loyal or reliable.
Adjective
fickle (comparative fickler or more fickle, superlative ficklest or most fickle)
- Quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance; insincere; not loyal or reliable.
- 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...
- 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
- Changeable.
- fickle breeze
- fickle stock market
- Synonyms:
- erratic, vertiginous, roving
Verb
fickle (third-person singular simple present fickles, present participle fickling, simple past and past participle fickled)
Proper noun capitalized: Fickle
Fickle (plural Fickles)
- A surname.
fickle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
fickle in Hindi
- fickle, restless, unsteady
- चंचल cañcal
- fickle, fast
- चपला caplā
fickle in Tamil
- அடிக்கடி மாறும், நிலையற்ற, சஞ்சல நெஞ்சமுடைய, சபலப்படும்
fickle in Urdu
- الل ٹپو, اوچھا, ڈھل مل, کچا, متردد, متذبذب
fickle in Bengali
- quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance
- খামখেয়ালী khamkheẏali
- changeable
- অস্থির osthir
More languagesFewer languages
- fickle in Malayalam
- മാറത്തക്ക, ചപലമായ, അസ്ഥിരം, ചപലം
- fickle in Kannada
- ಚಂಚಲವಾದ, ಚಪಲದ, ಸ್ಥಿರವಲ್ಲದ, ಮಾರ್ಪಡುವ
- fickle in Punjabi
- ਤਰਲ taral
- fickle in Gujarati
- ચંચળ
- fickle in Tagalog
- balimbing
- fickle in Persian
- دمدمی مزاج damdami-mezâj, حزبِ باد hezbe-bâd
Examples of fickle in a sentence
- Today's action is a reminder of just how fickle markets can be.
- Not that I’m fickle, but because I enjoyed so many pursuits, I couldn’t decide.
- Pump Shotguns are notoriously fickle weapons to carry.
Synonyms of fickle
Forms of fickle
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | fickler |
| comparative | more fickle |
| superlative | ficklest |
| superlative | most fickle |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fickles |
| present participle | fickling |
| past participle | fickled |
| past | fickled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Fickles |
Origin of fickle
From Middle English fikil, fikel, from Old English ficol (“fickle, cunning, tricky, deceitful”), equivalent to fike + -le. More at fike.
From Middle English fikelen, from fikel (“fickle”); see above. Cognate with Low German fikkelen (“to deceive, flatter”), German ficklen, ficheln (“to deceive, flatter”).
Words formed from fickle
Phrases with fickle
Words that rhyme with fickle
Questions about fickle
- What does fickle mean?
- Fickle means quick to change one’s opinion or allegiance; insincere; not loyal or reliable.
- What is fickle in Hindi?
- Fickle in Hindi is चंचल (cañcal), चपला (caplā). See Fickle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is fickle?
- Fickle can be an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce fickle?
- Fickle is pronounced /ˈfɪk.əl/.
Words near fickle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fickle (page history and authors); Fickle (page history and authors); चंचल (Hindi) (page history and authors); fickle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fickle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fickle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fickle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਤਰਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); fickle (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-fickle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fickle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fickle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.