INCONSISTENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inconsistent mean? 

• INCONSISTENT (adjective)
  The adjective INCONSISTENT has 3 senses:

1. displaying a lack of consistency

2. not capable of being made consistent or harmonious

3. not in agreement

  Familiarity information: INCONSISTENT used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INCONSISTENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Displaying a lack of consistency

Context example:

inconsistent with the roadmap

Similar:

at odds; conflicting; contradictory; self-contradictory (in disagreement)

discrepant; incompatible (not compatible with other facts)

scratchy; spotty; uneven (lacking consistency)

unconformable (not correspondent)

unreconciled (not made consistent or compatible)

Also:

variable (liable to or capable of change)

Antonym:

consistent ((sometimes followed by 'with') in agreement or consistent or reliable)

Derivation:

inconsistency (the quality of being inconsistent and lacking a harmonious uniformity among things or parts)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not capable of being made consistent or harmonious

Context example:

inconsistent accounts

Similar:

irreconcilable; unreconcilable (impossible to reconcile)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not in agreement

Synonyms:

discrepant; inconsistent

Similar:

incongruous (lacking in harmony or compatibility or appropriateness)

 Context examples 

The link between frequent participation in sport and obesity levels has generated inconsistent findings in previous research, but many of these studies were looking at BMI only.

(Children who walk to school less likely to be overweight or obese, study suggests, University of Cambridge)

Results from human studies have been inconsistent thus far, the authors write.

(Nanoparticles raise vascular risk by escaping the lungs, SciDev.Net)

But studies of dietary patterns to assess overall diet quality in relation to overall and CRC-specific mortality are inconsistent, making the development of evidence-based recommendations for CRC survivors difficult.

(Healthy Diets Have Better Impact on Colorectal Cancer, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Issue associated with the ineffective and inconsistent depolarization of the heart.

(Intermittent Capture Medical Device Problem, Food and Drug Administration)

But the links between insomnia and heart disease or stroke have been inconsistent.

(Insomnia: Heart Attack, Stroke Risk, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Standard allergy tests — the skin-prick test and the allergen-specific antibody test — have been inconsistent in predicting an allergic reaction to sesame.

(17% of Food-Allergic Children Have Sesame Allergy, National Institutes of Health)

"I cannot possibly countenance any such inconsistent proceeding," chimed in the Dowager Ingram.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Was it new for any thing in this world to be unequal, inconsistent, incongruous—or for chance and circumstance (as second causes) to direct the human fate?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Treatment of information so that it is not divulged in ways that are inconsistent with the understanding of the original disclosure.

(Confidentiality, NCI Thesaurus)

Meg stopped there, remembering all of a sudden that she hadn't made up her mind, that she had told 'her John' to go away, and that he might be overhearing her inconsistent remarks.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)