1
as in infidelity
lack of faithfulness especially to one's husband or wife
a wife who was long inured to the chronic inconstancy of her husband
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in fluctuation
the frequent and usually sudden passing from one condition to another
the inconstancy of public opinion is such that today's hero may be tomorrow's punching bag
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of inconstancy
Europeans, awakened to the danger of American inconstancy, are scrambling to spend trillions more on defense in coming years.
—
Adam Rasmi, Time, 20 June 2025
Years of naval inconstancy with repair work drove Vigor Industrial—a once vibrant and growing maritime conglomerate—into the welcoming arms of hedge funds, which wasted no time in striping the company of value.
—Craig Hooper, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
In the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands, as the center-left was evolving, the label was most effectively applied to those telegenic figures—Bill and Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, John Edwards—who were suspected of ideological inconstancy and of substituting polls for principles.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2022
But, in the hands of the Fleet Foxes, the pastoral feels less like a particular zone in time and more like a space in which to parse ideas of self-reliance, the inconstancy of love, the pain of intimacy, the fear of loss, the sting of betrayal, and the strange but urgent project of hope.
—Brandon Taylor, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2022
Here, Calabazas appears to be holding a toy windmill in one hand and, in the other, a miniature portrait of a woman, perhaps intended by Velázquez as a commentary on the inconstancy of love.
—Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2023
Due to his inconstancy and Angie’s growing attachment, their flimsy relationship operated on a timescale of eras coalescing into matters of historical record.
—Hannah Gold, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022
Over the past 20 years, the United States has undermined its own global leadership by inconstancy.
—Damon Linker, The Week, 9 June 2021
An acidic trickle of disenchantment, especially regarding Bellow’s inconstancy with women and family, runs through it.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2021
Adam Rasmi, Time, 20 June 2025
Years of naval inconstancy with repair work drove Vigor Industrial—a once vibrant and growing maritime conglomerate—into the welcoming arms of hedge funds, which wasted no time in striping the company of value.
—Craig Hooper, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
In the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands, as the center-left was evolving, the label was most effectively applied to those telegenic figures—Bill and Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, John Edwards—who were suspected of ideological inconstancy and of substituting polls for principles.
—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2022
But, in the hands of the Fleet Foxes, the pastoral feels less like a particular zone in time and more like a space in which to parse ideas of self-reliance, the inconstancy of love, the pain of intimacy, the fear of loss, the sting of betrayal, and the strange but urgent project of hope.
—Brandon Taylor, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2022
Here, Calabazas appears to be holding a toy windmill in one hand and, in the other, a miniature portrait of a woman, perhaps intended by Velázquez as a commentary on the inconstancy of love.
—Washington Post, 22 Feb. 2023
Due to his inconstancy and Angie’s growing attachment, their flimsy relationship operated on a timescale of eras coalescing into matters of historical record.
—Hannah Gold, Harper’s Magazine , 26 Oct. 2022
Over the past 20 years, the United States has undermined its own global leadership by inconstancy.
—Damon Linker, The Week, 9 June 2021
An acidic trickle of disenchantment, especially regarding Bellow’s inconstancy with women and family, runs through it.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inconstancy
Noun
-
The source also claimed that there were multiple instances of infidelity.—
Jason Pham,
StyleCaster,
8 July 2025
-
Researchers set out to explore why public reactions to celebrity infidelity vary so widely.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
Noun
-
Amid the ongoing tariff situation, which GM already anticipates will cost the company up to $5 billion this year, fluctuations in the supply chain and manufacturing strategies may further impede decisions surrounding how to approach warranty issues, Windau said.—
Jackie Charniga,
Freep.com,
25 July 2025
-
Daily weight fluctuations are normal and shouldn't discourage weight loss efforts.—
Bryant Stamford,
The Courier-Journal,
25 July 2025
Noun
-
The public sees divorce and adultery in different moral terms, largely viewing divorce as morally acceptable in every Gallup question since the organization began asking about it in 2001.—
Karlyn Bowman,
Forbes.com,
16 July 2025
-
Angela accused her husband of adultery, according to court filings obtained by The Texas Tribune.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
12 July 2025
Noun
-
The competing forces of gravity and pressure generated by photons caused the particles to go awry, bouncing around and creating waves called baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs).—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
8 July 2025
-
About 15 minutes later, a weakened version of this oscillation occurred again, followed shortly thereafter by oscillations at a different frequency, this one with properties that are commonly seen on European grids.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
18 June 2025
Noun
-
This decision is a travesty, a betrayal of the many farmers and rural Americans who voted for Trump.—
Jasmine Laws,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 July 2025
-
To witness in real time the writers stray so far from the stories that set us up for adult life can feel like a kind of betrayal.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
23 July 2025
Noun
-
But those in power refuted these links and instead emphasized the disloyalty and illegitimacy of disobeying the will of the majority.—
Time,
Time,
2 July 2025
-
Trump, the most unrelenting figure in American politics, doesn't forgive disloyalty.—
Jesus Mesa,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 June 2025
Noun
-
Their perfidy is memorialized in the English language, though.—
Evan Osnos,
New Yorker,
26 May 2025
-
The prior month, Vice President JD Vance had lodged his own complaints about Europe’s alleged perfidy, threatening that the United States might withdraw its security guarantees from Europe if the EU continued to aggressively regulate U.S. tech companies.—
ANU BRADFORD,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inconstancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inconstancy. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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