as in erratic
likely to change frequently, suddenly, or unexpectedly
I wouldn't count on him to show up for the play—he's pretty unreliable. She drives her car locally, but worries it's too unreliable for longer trips.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unreliable
Poor-quality or biased data can lead to inaccurate threat detection, making security systems unreliable.
—
Melkon Hovhannisyan, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
The new prosecution also agreed that the Snapchat evidence was unreliable, but went a step further than the judge, dismissing the case entirely.
—Tresa Baldas, USA Today, 28 Apr. 2025
And even though many surgeries resulted in injury or death, reporting was unreliable, Cosgrove and colleagues pointed out in a recent review.
—Frieda Klotz, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Apr. 2025
Any age data prior to 1400 is considered largely unreliable.
—Christopher Watson, ABC News, 21 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unreliable
Melkon Hovhannisyan, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
The new prosecution also agreed that the Snapchat evidence was unreliable, but went a step further than the judge, dismissing the case entirely.
—Tresa Baldas, USA Today, 28 Apr. 2025
And even though many surgeries resulted in injury or death, reporting was unreliable, Cosgrove and colleagues pointed out in a recent review.
—Frieda Klotz, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Apr. 2025
Any age data prior to 1400 is considered largely unreliable.
—Christopher Watson, ABC News, 21 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unreliable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unreliable
Adjective
-
The president’s erratic policies are raising concerns the economy might be headed for a downturn, but history suggests that franchise values will continue to climb regardless.—
Justin Birnbaum,
Forbes.com,
10 May 2025
-
Working with the brilliant but erratic Bart Eckland, Susan was a young biologist stationed far in the Panamanian rainforest years ago at Los Panos.—
Sixteen Ramos,
USA Today,
9 May 2025
Adjective
-
Any relocation would be a boost to Puerto Rico’s shaky economy as the government emerges from a historic bankruptcy and continues to struggle with chronic power outages.—
Dánica Coto,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2025
-
Implementation of that reform, including a network consolidation that began last year, has been shaky as the agency sought to streamline mail processing and cut transportation costs.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
12 May 2025
Adjective
-
Orlando Sentinel Chicago has been inconsistent this season, most recently losing to Nashville SC 7-2, and has gone winless in the last five matches.—
Kyle Foley,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 May 2025
-
Many people liked the programming enough to tune in, but the quality of early educational broadcast experiments was inconsistent.—
Josh Shepperd,
The Conversation,
2 May 2025
Adjective
-
But while the stock market is often a fickle friend, as are commodities such as oil and natural gas, wheat and corn, part of what was so shocking in 2022 was the simultaneous slump in government and corporate bonds, which proved as undependable as stocks.—
,
CNBC,
18 Feb. 2025
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Food, water and other resources would have to be shipped from home, at distances that make the supply frighteningly undependable.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Oct. 2024
Adjective
-
Star Toomey got a bad rap on Survivor 48, being pegged by other players as someone who was untrustworthy in the game.—
Dalton Ross,
EW.com,
1 May 2025
-
There are security implications to AI running on untrustworthy data as well.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Some British places are utterly unpredictable to pronounce.—
Maureen O'Hare,
CNN Money,
3 May 2025
-
Comments Kids’ taste in entertainment tends to be unpredictable.—
Elisabeth Sherman,
Parents,
2 May 2025
Adjective
-
Some of the problems are caused by a volatile economic landscape.—
Jack Kelly,
Forbes.com,
10 May 2025
-
Indian authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from villages near the volatile frontier.—
Rajesh Roy,
Chicago Tribune,
9 May 2025
Adjective
-
If parts would collapse in real life, the system identifies the first unstable brick and backtracks, removing it and all subsequent bricks before trying a different approach.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
9 May 2025
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The team calculated that a magnetar's giant flare could create the right conditions for r-process elements to form, producing highly unstable radioactive nuclei that decay into stable heavy elements such as gold.—
Victoria Corless,
Space.com,
7 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unreliable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unreliable. Accessed 17 May. 2025.
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