SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
inconsistent
adjective
Not agreeing with something else or not remaining the same in a reliable way.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Not agreeing or remaining steady
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topContradictory describes conflicting statements; uneven or erratic describes unstable performance or patterns.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The inconsistent family
These forms are closely related, but their grammar and use are not identical. Expand a form to compare its meaning and examples.
inconsistencynoun
A lack of agreement, coherence, or stable adherence to a pattern.
Lack of agreement
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
The date on the receipt revealed an inconsistency in the account.
An inconsistency then appeared between a draft claiming the passage was always open and the same team's record of finding it closed.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See inconsistent in use
The reviewer found inconsistent spellings of the same name throughout the manuscript.
In a practice debate about a fictional reading room, two statements were contradictory: one said every desk had a lamp, while the other said that one desk had no lamp at that same time. The speaker's later count was also inconsistent with the inventory she had accepted earlier.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license