instability
Americannoun
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the quality or state of being unstable; lack of stability or firmness.
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the tendency to behave in an unpredictable, changeable, or erratic manner.
emotional instability.
noun
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lack of stability or steadiness
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tendency to variable or unpredictable behaviour
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physics a fast growing disturbance or wave in a plasma
Etymology
Origin of instability
1375–1425; late Middle English instabilite < Latin instabilitās. See in- 3, stability
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She said she was "furious" about the instability, after 20 years of living in Qatar.
From Barron's
This pattern of temporary instability followed by renewed stabilization repeats across several cell cycles until the cell fully divides.
From Science Daily
Given the capacity of the Middle East to export trouble, the eruption of renewed and intensified war deepens the instability of region and wider world that is already turbulent, violent and dangerous.
From BBC
Previously, scientists believed the Sun may have triggered the instability that caused those inner moon collisions.
From Science Daily
Experts say the trade thrived from the mid-1960s to the 1990s -- a period of instability that saw the anti-intellectual Khmer Rouge regime rise to power and left precious heritage unprotected.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
