Instability meaning

ĭn'stə-bĭl'ĭ-tē
The definition of instability is a lack of stability or balance, or a tendency towards unpredictable or erratic behavior.

When you swing from one emotion to another, first feeling happy and then very sad for no reason, this is an example of emotional instability.

adjective
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The quality or condition of being unstable.

Economic instability; emotional instability.

noun
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Tendency to behave or react violently or erratically.

The instability of a chemical compound, emotional instability.

noun
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(uncountable) The quality of being unstable.
noun
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Lack of stability; unstableness.
  • Lack of firmness or steadiness.
  • Lack of determination; irresolution.
noun
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(physics, countable) A state that is not in equilibrium, or in which a small change has a large irreversible effect.
noun
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Origin of instability

  • From Middle French instabilité, from Latin instabilitas
    From Wiktionary

Instability Sentence Examples

  • Think of the things she would miss and the instability of having no parents.

  • A certain instability of character is revealed by the fact that he took up arms against Ramiro, having repented of his renunciation of the world.

  • and the instability of Gustavus's position.

  • The protoplasm is in a condition of instability and is continually breaking down to a certain extent, giving rise to various substances of different degrees of complexity, some of which are again built up by it into its own substances, and others, more simple in composition, are given off.

  • When the velocity of the jet is gradually increased there is a certain range of velocity for which the jet is unstable, so that any deviation from the straight rush-out tends to increase as the jet moves up. If then the jet is just on the point of instability, and is subjected as its base to alternations of motion, the sinuosities impressed on the jet become larger and larger as it flows out, and the flame is as it were folded on itself.

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Also Mentioned In

Words near instability in the Dictionary