Hypertext Webster Gateway: "erratic"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, n.
1. One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one
who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual
character.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, a. [L. erraticus, fr. errare to wander: cf.
F. erratique. See {Err}.]
1. Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed
destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the
planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.
The earth and each erratic world. --Blackmore.
2. Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or
conduct; eccentric; strange; queer; as, erratic conduct.
3. Irregular; changeable. ``Erratic fever.'' --Harvey.
{Erratic blocks}, {gravel, etc.} (Geol.), masses of stone
which have been transported from their original resting
places by the agency of water, ice, or other causes.
{Erratic phenomena}, the phenomena which relate to
transported materials on the earth's surface.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
erratic
adj 1: having no fixed course; "an erratic comet"; "his life
followed a wandering course"; "a planetary vagabond"
[syn: {planetary}, {wandering}]
2: liable to sudden unpredictable change; "erratic behavior";
"fickle weather"; "mercurial twists of temperament"; "a
quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment,
utterly fragile the next" [syn: {fickle}, {mercurial}, {quicksilver(a)}]
3: likely to perform unpredictably; "erratic winds are the bane
of a sailor"; "a temperamental motor; sometimes it would
start and sometimes it wouldn't"; "that beautiful but
temperamental instrument the flute"- Osbert Lancaster
[syn: {temperamental}]
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