(a.) Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.
(a.) Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; strange; queer; as, erratic conduct.
(a.) Irregular; changeable.
(n.) One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual character.
(n.) A rogue.
(n.) Any stone or material that has been borne away from its original site by natural agencies; esp., a large block or fragment of rock; a bowlder.
Example Sentences:
(1) This erratic course renders difficult assessment of the efficacy of methods of treatment.
(2) As trigger sensitivity was decreased within its usual range, a marked and progressive ventilator response delay occurred which was associated with erratic changes in functional residual capacity as well as dyspnea and tachypnea.
(3) Obstacles to successful treatment include an erratic schedule, mistrust of authority, and uncooperative or aggressive behavior.
(4) In the wake of a second fatal police shooting in the St Louis area after the death of Michael Brown , concerned citizens are asking why officers had to kill Kajieme Powell, a 25-year-old man who was holding a knife and “behaving erratically.” They want to know why officers don’t shoot someone like Powell in the leg or the arm, rather than aiming for vital organs, or why they don’t just use a less lethal weapon, like a Taser.
(5) We attribute the persistence of infection in our patient to erratic usage of antituberculous drugs.
(6) Coronary blood flow and coronary perfusion pressure were significantly correlated during the administration of lignocaine; bupivacaine had erratic effects on coronary blood flow and no correlation between coronary blood flow and coronary perfusion pressure was seen.
(7) Flynn’s subsequent penchant for inflammatory, erratic and even bigoted statements left few, particularly in security circles, willing to defend him.
(8) The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, reflecting the deep anger felt in Brussels at the erratic negotiating tactics adopted by Tsipras and Varoufakis, said Greek voters should blame Tsipras for bringing the country to its knees.
(9) Cells in optimal (5 x 10(-9) M) but uniform concentrations of N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) polarized well and showed a 'persistent random walk' type of locomotion, whereas in supraoptimal concentrations (10(-7) M), the cells took erratic paths and polarized poorly, suggesting that monocytes cannot develop an anteroposterior polarity if hit by ligand molecules at many points on the cell surface simultaneously.
(10) It is perhaps not surprising that self-diagnosis and self-medication are common and follow-up attendance is erratic.
(11) As far back as 2008, the Wall Street Journal was running front-page pieces , beginning: "Major banks are contributing to the erratic behaviour of a crucial global lending benchmark".
(12) The fact that it failed is related to the atomised society left behind by 40 years of the most brutal and erratic of dictatorships.
(13) At lower levels the results were somewhat more erratic due to inaccuracies of the various methods at low concentrations.
(14) At any rate, the only sparse range of body expressions, the smallness and preference of night activity of these animals and the erratic occurrence of essential behaviour patterns make the investigations more difficult.
(15) It has been encouraged by Trump’s often erratic, unfocused behaviour , and the resulting opportunities and dangers arising from weakened American global leadership.
(16) Though absorption of ampicillin from capsules was often erratic, its bioavailability was similar in normal and cirrhotic subjects.
(17) Moreover, the emotional climate of adolescence, which requires affiliation with peer groups, and a distancing from authority figures such as doctors and parents, is often associated with a deterioration in drug and dietary compliance and with erratic clinic attendance.
(18) I learned that the hard way: when I was younger, I played the part of the erratic, irascible drunk in order to have something to write about.
(19) Once well-paid, stable work with decent terms and conditions is gradually being replaced by minimum-wage, erratic jobs.
(20) Psychiatric patients may also be at special risk for the development of digitoxicity because of erratic drug taking, electrolyte imbalance or increased autonomic tone.
Unstable
Definition:
(a.) Not stable; not firm, fixed, or constant; subject to change or overthrow.
Example Sentences:
(1) Unstable subcapital fractures and dislocation fractures of the humerus can usually be set by closed reduction.
(2) Measurements of mechanical stability of Hb Santa Ana showed that the oxy-form of this hemoglobin was 10 times more unstable than that of Hb S and 100 times more unstable than that of Hb A.
(3) Although operative mortality was significantly greater for women during most of this review period, mortality was similar during 1983 (2.6% for men versus 2.4% for women), in spite of a significantly higher incidence of unstable angina in the female group (54% for women versus 35% for men).
(4) Similar, but less marked changes were seen in the patients unstable angina.
(5) If a tear is found, remove all unstable meniscal fragments, leaving a rim, if possible, especially adjacent to the popliteus recess, and then proceed to open cystectomy.
(6) After the impact … I lost my balance, making my body unstable and falling on top of my opponent,” he said in his submission to the panel, which met on Wednesday, a day after Uruguay had beaten Italy 1-0 in a decisive group-stage match.
(7) The complex was found to be unstable toward low values of pH and ionic strength, concentrations of urea exceeding 1 M, modifications of the cysteine residues, and fragmention in which the C terminal portions of either H3 or H4 are removed.
(8) Then, the males with super-unstable oc-mutations were crossed with females with attached X chromosomes, supporting P-M hybrid dysgenesis.
(9) Since transcription does not take place during mitosis, the amount of protooncogene products is rapidly decreased (they are extremely unstable).
(10) We describe herein, a new unstable mutant of the vestigial locus, isolated from a French natural population.
(11) The Saudi-led war in Yemen launched in March – against Houthi rebels who the Saudis insist are backed by Iran – has diverted resources and underlined the priority being given to the Gulf’s unstable and impoverished backyard.
(12) The hypothesis that opiate agonism requires an N substituent in the axial position does not appear to be consistent with the increased potency of beta isomers in which axial N substituents are thermodynamically more unstable.
(13) These drugs are beneficial also in prevention of recurrent myocardial infarction, especially among patients with unstable angina.
(14) HPLC is of particular value in providing a means of separating unstable compounds prior to assay by relatively nonspecific quantitation methods.
(15) In a cohort of 417 patients admitted consecutively to the Coronary Care Unit for acute myocardial ischemia (unstable angina pectoris in 121, acute myocardial infarction in 296 patients) 21 cases of non arrhythmogenic sudden death occurred within 24 hours after admission.
(16) The homdr mutation is unstable and probably deleterious to the cell.
(17) It is likely that the light chains assemble normally with the HMM fragment in HMM cells, while in cells lacking myosin heavy chain (mhcA) the light chains are unstable.
(18) These findings emphasize the difficulty of identifying patients at low risk for myocardial infarction or unstable angina in the emergency room without consideration of many factors from the history, the physical examination, and the ECG.
(19) During unstable detrusor contractions, which even in these healthy women are observed during bladder filling and also during inhibited voidings through the urethra, the contraction is weaker.
(20) With these scores we expect to facilitate the diagnostic screening, to indicate the way of therapy and to avoid unnecessary surgery for urinary incontinence in cases of motor-urge-incontinence (detrusor instability, unstable bladder), as long as a urodynamic examination is not feasible on every incontinent women.