| Main Entry: | alternate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | take turns, change back and forth |
Synonyms: |
act reciprocally, alter, blow hot and cold, change, come and go, exchange, fill in for, fluctuate, follow, follow in turn, interchange, intersperse, oscillate, relieve, rotate, seesaw, shift, shilly-shally, substitute, sway, vacillate, vary, waver, yo-yo |
| Notes: | alternate means 'one after the other' or 'each succeeding the other in turn, especially continuously' and alternative means 'one instead of the other' or 'allowing or necessitating a choice between two or more things' |
Antonyms: |
continue |
| Main Entry: | capricious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | given to sudden behavior change |
Synonyms: |
any way the wind blows, arbitrary, blowing hot and cold, careless, changeful, contrary, crotchety, effervescent, erratic, every which way, fanciful, fickle, fitful, flaky*, flighty, freakish, gaga, helter-skelter, humorsome, impulsive, inconstant, kinky*, lubricious, mercurial, moody, mutable, notional, odd, picky*, punchy, queer, quirky, temperamental, ticklish, unpredictable, unreasonable, unstable, up and down, vagarious, variable, volatile, wayward, whimsical, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
constant, dependable, sensible, staid, steadfast, steady |
| Main Entry: | dolt |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | stupid person |
Synonyms: |
airhead, blockhead, boob*, chump, clodpate, dimwit, dodo, dope, dork, dumbbell, dumdum, dunce, fool, goon, idiot, ignoramus, lamebrain, lunkhead, meathead, nitwit, sap*, simpleton, stupid, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
brain, genius |
| Main Entry: | fickle |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | vacillating, blowing hot and cold |
Synonyms: |
arbitrary, capricious, changeable, cheating, coquettish, double-crossing, faithless, fitful, flighty, frivolous, inconstant, irresolute, lubricious, mercurial, mutable, quicksilver, sneaking, temperamental, ticklish, two-timing, unfaithful, unpredictable, unstable, unsteady, untrue, variable, volatile, whimsical, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
aware, cognizant, constant, faithful, reliable, stable, steady |
| Main Entry: | fluctuate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | vacillate, change |
Synonyms: |
alter, alternate, be undecided, blow hot and cold, ebb and flow, flutter, go up and down, hem and haw, hesitate, oscillate, rise and fall, seesaw, shift, swing, undulate, vary, veer, vibrate, wave, waver, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
hold, persist, remain, stay |
| Main Entry: | mercurial |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | flighty, temperamental |
Synonyms: |
blowing hot and cold, bubbleheaded, buoyant, capricious, changeable, effervescent, elastic, erratic, expansive, fickle, flaky, flip*, fluctuating, gaga, gay, impulsive, inconstant, irregular, irrepressible, lighthearted, lively, lubricious, mad, mobile, movable, quicksilver, resilient, short-fuse, spirited, sprightly, ticklish, unpredictable, unstable, up-and-down, variable, volatile, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
calm, tranquil, unchangeable, unperturbable, unvarying |
| Main Entry: | shift |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | switch, fluctuate |
Synonyms: |
about-face, alter, blow hot and cold, bottom out, budge, change, change gears, cook*, deviate, dial back, dislocate, displace, disturb, do up, drift, exchange, fault, flip-flop, hem and haw, move, move around, move over, rearrange, recalibrate, relocate, remove, replace, reposition, ship, shuffle, slip, stir, substitute, swap places, swerve, switch over, tack, transfer, transmogrify, transpose, turn, turn around, turn the corner, turn the tables, vacillate, vary, veer, waffle, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
deactivate, remain, stagnate |
| Main Entry: | sway |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | move back and forth |
Synonyms: |
bend, blow hot and cold, careen, fluctuate, hem and haw, incline, lean, lurch, oscillate, pendulate, pulsate, rock, roll, stagger, swagger, swing, undulate, vibrate, wave, waver, weave, wobble, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
stay, steady |
| Main Entry: | vacillate |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | go back and forth |
Synonyms: |
alternate, be indecisive, be irresolute, change, change mind, dither, fence-straddle, fluctuate, hedge, hem and haw, hesitate, hover, oscillate, pause, pussyfoot around, reel, rock, run hot and cold, seesaw, shilly-shally, stagger, straddle, sway, swing, waffle, waver, whiffle, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
remain, stay |
| Main Entry: | variable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | changing, changeable |
Synonyms: |
capricious, changeful, fickle, fitful, flexible, fluctuating, fluid, iffy, inconstant, irregular, mercurial, mobile, mutable, protean, shifting, shifty, slippery*, spasmodic, temperamental, ticklish, uncertain, unequable, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, vacillating, volatile, waffling, wavering, yo-yo |
Antonyms: |
invariable, unchangeable, unchanging, unvarying |
