INSTABILITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Instability

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/ˌɪnstəbˈɪlɪti/ Listen

noun

Instability n. (pl. instabilities)

The quality or condition of being unstable; lack of stability, firmness, or steadiness; liability to give way or to fail; insecurity; precariousness; as, the instability of a building.

Lack of determination of fixedness; inconstancy; fickleness; mutability; changeableness; as, instability of character, temper, custom, etc.

Synonyms: Inconstancy; fickleness; changeableness; wavering; unsteadiness; unstableness.

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Etymology of 'Instability'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Instability" Quotes from Famous Books

... the conductors of the boats which transported the supplies are now no more—and that the boats are now in view from the site of the Barracks lying in the bushes and falling gradually to pieces.—If he is an old settler, this must have past within his memory, and may teach him the instability of all human affairs. Eight miles below the Presqu-Isle a stream called the Pekagomique falls into the Saint John on the eastern side. The land on this stream is very good, and a settlement is begun a few miles from its mouth, it has good mills and is well stored with timber. There are several other ...

— First History of New Brunswick • Peter Fisher

... Lordship," said Will, "or do ye want them a' lodged in Graeme's Tower? They would mak a bonny nest o' screighing hoolets, if we had them safely under the care o' the sly redcap o' that auld keep: they wad hatch something else than scandal, and leasin-makin, and reports o' the instability o' Border rights, the ...

— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 2 - Historical, Traditional, and Imaginative • Alexander Leighton

... intolerable, if, once put in force, it could serve the merchant as a guide in the valuations of his property for a determined number of successive years. What, however, renders this assessment more prejudicial, is its instability and uncertainty, and the repetition of the same operation I have just described every year, and with every cargo that arrives; but under distinct valuations, according to the reports or humor of ...

— The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes • Fedor Jagor; Tomas de Comyn; Chas. Wilkes; Rudolf Virchow.

... memory We ought to grant free passage to diseases We say a good marriage because no one says to the contrary We set too much value upon ourselves We still carry our fetters along with us We take other men's knowledge and opinions upon trust Weakness and instability of a private and particular fancy Weigh, as wise: men should, the burden of obligation Well, and what if it had been death itself? Were more ambitious of a great reputation than of a good one What a man says should be what he thinks What are become of all ...

— Quotes and Images From The Works of Michel De Montaigne • Michel De Montaigne

... and rubbing the gold frame of his spectacles against his nose to allay the irritation they had caused by their persistent pressure during the interview he had been holding with the representative of another firm: an interview in which he had disguised his sense of his client's moral instability by preserving the most impressive physical immobility. The air of the room struck cold on him, and he went to the fireplace and put on some coal, and sat down on a high stool where he could feel the warmth. ...

— The Judge • Rebecca West

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