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✏️ Quick movements 💡 Flashing on and off 🤔 Unpredictable
flicky

flicky

9.2
Not reliable and often changing suddenly
  • adjective
  • /ˈflɪki/
translation icon : inestable
  • The internet connection was so flicky that video calls kept dropping unexpectedly.

Examples

  • Since the update, her phone's performance has been flicky, crashing or restarting without warning.

  • His mood can be quite flicky, changing from cheerful to annoyed in minutes.

  • His mood is quite flicky today.

  • The flicky nature of the weather makes planning difficult.

  • Since the update, her phone's performance has been flicky, crashing or restarting without warning.

  • The internet connection was so flicky that video calls kept dropping unexpectedly.

  • His mood is quite flicky, shifting from happy to angry in a matter of moments.

Synonyms

erratic
vsflicky
94 6.1

Not regular or predictable and likely to change suddenly

often changes suddenly with no clear reason
flaky
vsflicky
  • Informal
6 7.0

Tending to fail or change without warning

covers sudden unreliable behaviour across many situations not just software
glitchy
vsflicky
  • Informal
4 4.8

Small digital errors make sound or video freeze

refers to shifting or unreliable behaviour not limited to digital errors
wonky
vsflicky
  • Informal
3 7.7

Not working correctly, often for devices, apps, or websites

is about unpredictable behaviour overall rather than mainly malfunction

Antonyms

reliable
358 2.7

Able to be trusted to do what is expected

predictable
189 2.5

Easy to guess what will happen

How Unreliable

unpredictable
163 4.4
erratic
94 6.1
flicky
9.2
unreliable
71 4.1
spotty
18 5.1

Surface Forms

flicky positive

Morphology

flicky = flick (semi-transparent) = flick + y

The sense 'unreliable or unpredictable' is a metaphorical extension from sudden/quick changes (flicks) and is somewhat inferable but not strictly literal.

Etymology

Flicky comes from flick and is similar to the word fickle; a helpful way to remember is that both mean 'changeable', so flicky describes things or people that are unreliable and change without warning.