Home › Glossary › Letter I

inconstancy

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A noun denoting fickleness, unsteadiness, or a tendency to change one's affections, opinions, or loyalty without cause.

Detailed Definition
Inconstancy is an older literary word for being changeable in love, purpose, or allegiance. Here it names the speaker’s seeming shift from the beloved to war, though the poem argues that this change is honorable rather than fickle. The term is more formal and old-fashioned than everyday modern usage.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Yet this inconstancy is such / As you too shall adore” means changeability, unreliability, or instability in affection; “The sea’s inconstancy remade the shore each night” transfers the trait to nature; “Her inconstancy was not betrayal but weather, swift and various” complicates the moral judgment; “Donne’s love poetry frequently tests whether change in lovers is fault, freedom, or fidelity”
Additional Notes
The word appears in “Yet this inconstancy is such” and is a more literary, old-fashioned noun than most readers use today.; Found in the poem, To Lucasta, Going to the Wars by Richard Lovelace
Other Meanings of “inconstancy”
Also Known As
unreliability fickleness capriciousness variability Volatility
Skip to main content