volatile
adjective
, especially British -ˌtī(-ə)l\
Definition of volatile
(Entry 1 of 2)
volatile
noun
, especially British -ˌtī(-ə)l\
Definition of volatile (Entry 2 of 2)
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Other Words from volatile
Adjective
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noun
Synonyms & Antonyms for volatile
Synonyms: Adjective
capricious, changeable, changeful, fickle, flickery, fluctuating, fluid, inconsistent, inconstant, mercurial, mutable, skittish, temperamental, uncertain, unpredictable, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, variable
Antonyms: Adjective
certain, changeless, constant, immutable, invariable, predictable, settled, stable, stationary, steady, unchangeable, unchanging, unvarying
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Examples of volatile in a Sentence
Adjective
I am beginning to hear investors say that the best way to beat this volatile market is by trading—anxiously moving in and out of securities as the market ebbs and flows. In my view there is no surer path to the poorhouse. — John W. Rogers, Jr., Forbes, 25 May 2009 Usually, only a few of the volatile chemicals in a fragrance are obviously noticeable to human noses. — Ivan Amato, Science News, 24 Sept. 2005 VOCs (or volatile organic compounds) are thought to be among the potential culprits behind illnesses often lumped under the heading of Sick Building Syndrome. — Scott Schilling, This Old House, March 2005 … it was Elvis who represented rock and roll at its unblushing, volatile best; he was its first master and the embodiment of every reason that adolescents of the postwar years turned to it in favor of the cheerfully torpid pop music … to which their parents were listening. — David Hajdu, New York Review of Books, 9 Oct. 2003 When left unused, make-up has a tendency to dry out because any water or other volatile substances it contains evaporate. — Barry Fox, New Scientist, 9 Aug. 2003 The stock market can be very volatile. She is a volatile woman. The protests are increasing, creating a volatile situation in the capital.
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Given the uncertainty over Young’s neck injury, this is the most volatile of the Ravens’ positions. — Jonas Shaffer, baltimoresun.com, "Final Ravens 53-man roster projection: Finding space for Jaleel Scott, Patrick Mekari and more," 30 Aug. 2019 In recent years the issue has become one of the most volatile in sports. — SI.com, "A History of Football in 100 Objects," 28 Aug. 2019 And while trading is likely to remain volatile, many analysts expect equities to keep rising. — Alain Sherter, CBS News, "3 reasons the U.S. economy isn't set to fall off a cliff," 20 Aug. 2019 Nestled on the margins of Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, Kurdistan is one of the planet’s most volatile regions, and its people are the world’s largest stateless group. — Erin Blakemore, National Geographic, "Today, the Kurds are spread across four nations. Who are they?," 16 Aug. 2019 To them, shandy meant indescribably cheerful, volatile, and lunatic. — Lauren Valenti, Vogue, "Introducing Monolito, a New Fragrance Line That Comes in Chic Wearable Vials," 14 Aug. 2019 The yuan remained volatile on Tuesday after the People's Bank of China fixed the currency at its weakest level in 11 years. — Laura He, CNN, "Global selloff continues after US labels China a currency manipulator," 5 Aug. 2019 The market remains highly volatile, though, with a great deal of uncertainty. — Mike Rogoway, oregonlive.com, "Curaleaf says it will be ‘world’s largest cannabis company’ after $875 million deal," 17 July 2019 With similar concerns surrounding Facebook, its shares also remain volatile. — Julia Donheiser, WSJ, "After Tech’s Wild Quarter, Investors Brace For Turbulence Ahead," 29 June 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
To explain this depletion, scientists suggest the massive amount of energy and heat generated from the giant impact may have driven volatiles from the fragments of the proto-moon. — Erica Jawin, Scientific American, "Apollo’s Bounty: The Science of the Moon Rocks," 2 July 2019 The evidence that plants can somehow perceive these volatiles and respond with a defense response is also very good. — Quanta Magazine, "The Secret Language of Plants," 16 Dec. 2013 The moon then coalesced from the disk—a scenario that can explain the moon’s large mass and dearth of water and other volatiles. — Simon J. Lock, Scientific American, "When Earth and the Moon Were One," 2 July 2019 Dryness: The lunar samples proved to be extremely dry and almost entirely depleted of volatiles—elements or molecules with low boiling points that easily evaporate, such as water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and hydrogen. — Erica Jawin, Scientific American, "Apollo’s Bounty: The Science of the Moon Rocks," 2 July 2019 Studies also show that moon rocks are stripped of nearly all volatiles (materials that boil away easily), providing evidence of some long-ago disaster that eliminated them. — Korey Haynes, Discover Magazine, "Legacy of Lunar Data: How Apollo Revealed our Moon," 20 May 2019 Theory predicts that such impacts would have generated immense amounts of heat, which in turn would have driven volatiles out of the rocks that evenutally formed the moon. — Mike Wall, Space.com, "First Atomic Blast Reveals Clues About Moon Formation," 8 Feb. 2017 A year later, The Following expansion made good on some of Dying Light’s promise, with a much more interesting conceit (sentient volatiles!) and more personality for protagonist Kyle Crane. — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, "Dying Light 2 builds more heart and brains into one of the best zombie games ever," 15 June 2018 Tholins are a sort of aerosol thrown out when volatiles escape an atmosphere, but Pluto appears to not lose many of its volatile particles to space. — John Wenz, Popular Mechanics, "Here's What We Know About Pluto So Far," 17 July 2015