Meaning & use
fickleness
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Meaning
noununcountable
The quality of often changing one's mind, loyalties, or feelings without a good reason.
Grammar: Uncountable: no plural. Used with 'the' or without an article: the fickleness of fans.
Patterns
- the fickleness of someone/something
- someone's fickleness
The fickleness of the weather in spring makes planning difficult.
His fickleness with friends meant no one trusted him for long.
She was frustrated by the fickleness of public opinion.
Common combinations
- the fickleness of
- The fickleness of fashion trends is well known.
- human fickleness
- The novel explores human fickleness in love.
- fickleness of fortune
- He blamed the fickleness of fortune for his losses.
- accuse someone of fickleness
- She accused him of fickleness when he changed his plans again.
Synonyms and how they differ
- capriciousness
- More formal and often suggests sudden, unpredictable changes; fickleness is more about disloyalty or lack of steadfastness.
- inconstancy
- A formal word meaning not staying the same; fickleness often implies a criticism of someone's character.
- unreliability
- Focuses on not being dependable; fickleness emphasizes changing feelings or loyalties.
Opposites
Word family
- fickle adjective
- Changing often and without reason; the adjective form.
- fickly adverb
- In a fickle manner; rare.
Commonly confused: fickleness or fickleness vs. fickle?
fickleness vs fickleness vs. fickle
Fickleness is the noun; fickle is the adjective. Don't say 'He is fickleness'; say 'He is fickle' or 'His fickleness'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'fickleness' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Fickleness' is a noun, so it can be the subject or object: 'The fickleness of the market'. The other options try to use it as an adjective or verb, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fickleness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.