WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
er•rat•ic /ɪˈrætɪk/USA pronunciation
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- changeable in behavior or style;
unpredictable:behavior too erratic to trust.
er•rat•ic
(i rat′ik),USA pronunciation adj.
n.
er•rat′i•cal•ly, adv.
er•rat′i•cism, n.
- deviating from the usual or proper course in conduct or opinion;
eccentric;
queer:erratic behavior. - having no certain or definite course;
wandering;
not fixed:erratic winds. - Geologynoting or pertaining to a boulder or the like carried by glacial ice and deposited some distance from its place of origin.
- Fungi(of a lichen) having no attachment to the surface on which it grows.
n.
- an erratic or eccentric person.
- Geologyan erratic boulder or the like.
- Latin errāticus, equivalent. to errāt(us) (past participle of errāre to err) + -icus -ic
- Middle English 1325–75
er•rat′i•cism, n.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged unpredictable, unstable, capricious.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged consistent, regular, stable.
'erratically' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):