erratic

• erratick, erraticke, erratique (all obsolete)

From Middle English erratik, erratyk, from Latin errāticus; compare Old French erratique.

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹætɪk/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɪk

erratic (comparative more erratic, superlative most erratic)

1. Unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent.

   Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.

2. Deviating from normal opinions or actions; eccentric; odd.

   erratic conduct

• consistent

erratic (plural erratics)

1. (geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, page 372:

     The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic, but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.

2. Anything that has erratic characteristics.

• (glaciers): dropstone

• Cartier, cartier, cirrate, rice rat