Meaning & use
fickle man
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Meanings
phrasecountable
A man who often changes his mind, loyalties, or affections without a steady reason.
Grammar: Countable phrase: you can say 'a fickle man' or 'fickle men'.
Patterns
- a fickle man
- be fickle in something
He is a fickle man who switches teams every season.
She called him a fickle man because he changed his mind about the wedding three times.
A fickle man may promise you the world and forget it by morning.
phrasecountable
A man whose romantic interest or support moves quickly from one person or cause to another.
Grammar: Often used in personal or romantic contexts; the adjective 'fickle' describes the man, not the situation.
Patterns
- a fickle man in love
- a fickle man with someone
He was a fickle man in love, chasing a new romance every month.
Friends warned her that he was a fickle man with a short attention span.
A fickle man can be charming at first and distant later.
Word forms
| plural | fickle men |
|---|
Common combinations
- a fickle man
- Everyone knew him as a fickle man who could not stay loyal.
- fickle in love
- He was fickle in love and never kept a girlfriend for long.
- fickle weather
- The fickle weather ruined our picnic plans.
- fickle fans
- Fickle fans stop supporting the team when it loses.
- fickle fortune
- Fickle fortune gave him wealth and then took it away.
Synonyms and how they differ
- capricious
- More formal and literary; it suggests sudden, unpredictable changes, often of mood or behavior.
- unreliable
- Focuses on not being dependable; a fickle man may be charming but unreliable, while an unreliable man may simply fail to do what he promised.
- changeable
- Neutral and often used for things like weather or moods; 'fickle' is more disapproving and personal.
Opposites
Word family
- fickleness noun
- The quality of being fickle; the state of often changing.
- fickly adverb
- Rare; in a fickle manner.
Commonly confused: fickle man or fickle? fickle man or fickled?
fickle man vs fickle
'Fickle' is the adjective; 'fickle man' is a phrase using that adjective with a noun.
fickle man vs fickled
Not a standard word; the correct adjective is 'fickle'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'fickle man' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Fickle' means often changing, so a fickle man changes his mind. The other options describe the opposite (never changes, loyal, reliable) and do not fit the meaning of 'fickle'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fickle man”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.