volatile

volatile
I
(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)
adj. gaseous, vaporizable; fickle, changeable, mercurial; unstable, transient; light, giddy; lively; capricious; buoyant, airy.
II
(Roget's IV) modif.
1. [Having the qualities of a gas]
Syn. light, airy, imponderable, subtle, buoyant, gaseous, gasiform, vaporous, vapory, vaporizable, evaporable, effervescent, expansive, resilient, elastic.
Ant. heavy*, dense, solid.
2. [Having a sprightly temperament]
Syn. lively, light-hearted, vivacious, gay, animated, merry, flippant, teasing, playful, sprightly; see also active 1 , 2 , happy 1 .
Ant. solemn*, demure, quiet.
3. [Liable to sudden change]
Syn. unstable, unpredictable, explosive; see changeable 1 , 2 .
4. [Fickle]
Syn. frivolous, capricious, whimsical; see changeable 1 , fickle 2 .
III
(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) (VOCABULARY WORD) a.
[VOL uh tul]
unstable, liable to change quickly. Also, likely to explode due to instability.
Tensions between nations created a volatile situation.
SYN.: unstable, changeable, rapidly changing, unpredictable, unsettled, erratic, explosive, tense, fickle, capricious, up and down, hot and cold, mercurial.
ANT.: stable, steady, predictable
IV
(Roget's Thesaurus II) adjective Following no predictable pattern: capricious, changeable, erratic, fantastic, fantastical, fickle, freakish, inconsistent, inconstant, mercurial, temperamental, ticklish, uncertain, unpredictable, unstable, unsteady, variable, whimsical. See CHANGE, CONTINUE.

English dictionary for students. 2013.

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Synonyms:
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  • Volatile — may refer to: Chemistry Volatility (chemistry), a measure of the tendency of a substance to vaporize Relative volatility, a measure of vapor pressures of the components in a liquid mixture Volatiles, a group of compounds with low boiling points… …   Wikipedia

  • Volatile — Vol a*tile, a. [F. volatil, L. volatilis, fr. volare to fly, perhaps akin to velox swift, E. velocity. Cf. {Volley}.] 1. Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly. [Obs.] [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Volatile — kommt aus dem englischen Sprachraum und bedeutet dort etwa: veränderlich, beweglich, flüchtig. Das Wort wird als Fachausdruck auch im deutschen Sprachraum verwendet: Im Aktienhandel für veränderliche Werte oder als Maß des Risikos einer Aktie,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • volatile — [väl′ə təl; ] chiefly Brit [, väl′ətīl΄] adj. [MFr < L volatilis < volare, to fly] 1. Obs. flying or able to fly; volitant 2. vaporizing or evaporating quickly, as alcohol 3. a) likely to shift quickly and unpredictably; unstable; explosive …   English World dictionary

  • Volatile — Vol a*tile, n. [Cf. F. volatile.] A winged animal; wild fowl; game. [Obs.] Chaucer. Sir T. Browne. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • volatile — (adj.) 1590s fine or light, also evaporating rapidly (c.1600), from M.Fr. volatile, from L. volatilis fleeting, transitory, flying, from pp. stem of volare to fly, of unknown origin. Sense of readily changing, fickle is first recorded 1640s.… …   Etymology dictionary

  • volatile — ► ADJECTIVE 1) (of a substance) easily evaporated at normal temperatures. 2) liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse. ► NOUN ▪ a volatile substance. DERIVATIVES volatility noun volatilize (also volatilise) verb …   English terms dictionary

  • volatile — I adjective active, animated, brief, brisk, buoyant, capricious, changeable, cometary, deciduous, desultory, effervescent, elastic, elusive, ephemeral, erratic, evanescent, evaporable, excitable, explosive, fickle, fleeting, flighty, full of… …   Law dictionary

  • volatile — /vo latile/ [dal lat. volatĭlis, der. di volare ]. ■ agg. 1. (non com.) [che vola, capace di volare] ▶◀ [➨ volante1 agg. (1)]. 2. (chim.) [di liquido o solido che tende a vaporizzare facilmente: sostanze v. ] ▶◀ ‖ evaporabile …   Enciclopedia Italiana

  • volatile — effervescent, buoyant, expansive, resilient, *elastic Analogous words: unstable, mercurial, *inconstant, fickle, capricious: light minded, frivolous, flippant, flighty (see corresponding nouns at LIGHTNESS): variable, *changeable, protean …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • volatile — [adj] explosive, changeable airy, buoyant, capricious, effervescent, elastic, elusive, ephemeral, erratic, expansive, fickle, fleeting, flighty, flippant, frivolous, fugacious, fugitive, gaseous, gay, giddy, impermanent, imponderable,… …   New thesaurus

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