Meaning & use

unreliable

adjective·Everyday

Not able to be trusted to behave, perform, or produce results consistently as expected.

See it in a sentence

The old car was too unreliable to drive on a long road trip.

His unreliable memory made him a poor witness to the accident.

A note on using this word

Unreliable can describe people, machines, information, or sources, always pointing to a lack of consistency or trustworthiness.

Words with a similar meaning

undependableerraticinconsistent

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

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