VUCA

Adjective

volatile (comparative more volatile, superlative most volatile)

1. Evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions.
2. (informal) Of a substance, explosive.
3. Of a price, variable or erratic.
   • Its pricing is highly volatile — and therefore highly risky. For all its nosebleed ascents, bitcoin also has had some gut-punching plunges. Between November 2021 and November 2022, for example, the price of bitcoin dropped 75%, from $64,455 to $16,196, according to data on coinmarketcap.com.2024 November 19, Jeanne Sahadi, “Bitcoin has smashed records. Should you invest?”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2025
4. Of a person, quick to become angry or violent.
   • a volatile man

   Synonyms:

   furious, rabid, raging, ferocious, fierce, rampant, grim, incessive, infuriate, savage

5. Fickle.
   • Now Mr. Bush plans to pour more arms into this unstable region and add fuel to the volatile powderkeg he has foolishly created.2007 August 1, “Unwise Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia (2 Letters)”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022

   Synonyms:

   changeable, erratic, unpredictable

6. Temporary or ephemeral.

   Synonyms:

   fleeting, passing, transitory, earthly, ephemeral, brief, deciduous, evanescent, flying, fugacious

See all 12 meanings of volatile