Synonyms for unsteady
- adjective
Most common
unstable shaky precarious tottering jerky flickering unfixed unfirm
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Unstable
unstable, shaky, precarious, tottering, wobbly, fluctuating, erratic, tremulous, light-headed, uneven, restless, wavering, unsettled, rickety, inconstant, instable, fitful, chaotic, variable, irregular, vacillating, slippery
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Not held firmly in position; physically unstable.
A slightly unsteady item of furniture.
Related words
- Word family
- unsteadily unsteadiness
- Is a kind of
- disorderly
Example sentences
- unstable Back in the 1990s, Algeria was incredibly unstable.
- shaky Your plan is standing on a very shaky base support.
- precarious Yanni lives a precarious existence in Algiers.
- tottering The whole power structure is tottering.
- jerky Sometimes, the ewe makes jerky sudden movements.
- flickering Rodrigo was standing in front of a flickering fire.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| unsteady | steady | |
| unstable | steady | |
| shaky | rising | |
| precarious | steady | |
| tottering | steady | |
| jerky | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- shaky2, jerky2
- 6 letters
- uneven3, wobbly3, fitful2, unfirm
- 7 letters
- chaotic3, erratic3, rickety3, unfixed
- 8 letters
- variable4, unstable3, restless2, slippery3, wavering3, instable
- 9 letters
- irregular4, unsettled3, tottering3, tremulous3
- 10 letters
- precarious4, flickering3, inconstant
- 11 letters
- fluctuating4, vacillating4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (shaky2 = 2 syllables).