UNSTEADINESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unsteadiness mean? 

• UNSTEADINESS (noun)
  The noun UNSTEADINESS has 2 senses:

1. the quality of not being steady or securely fixed in place

2. the quality of being unsteady--varying and unpredictable

  Familiarity information: UNSTEADINESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNSTEADINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of not being steady or securely fixed in place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

ricketiness; unsteadiness

Hypernyms ("unsteadiness" is a kind of...):

movability; movableness (the quality of being movable; capable of being moved or rearranged)

Antonym:

steadiness (the quality of being steady or securely and immovably fixed in place)

Derivation:

unsteady (not firmly or solidly positioned)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being unsteady--varying and unpredictable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("unsteadiness" is a kind of...):

irregularity; unregularity (not characterized by a fixed principle or rate; at irregular intervals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "unsteadiness"):

instability; unstableness (the quality or attribute of being unstable and irresolute)

Antonym:

steadiness (the quality of being steady--regular and unvarying)

Derivation:

unsteady (subject to change or variation)

 Context examples 

No, upon my honour, there is no unsteadiness of character.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Her heart and her judgment were equally against Edmund's decision: she could not acquit his unsteadiness, and his happiness under it made her wretched.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

A sensation of lightheadedness, unsteadiness, turning, spinning or rocking.

(Dizziness, NCI Thesaurus)

A disorder characterized by a disturbing sensation of lightheadedness, unsteadiness, giddiness, spinning or rocking.

(Dizziness, NCI Thesaurus/CTCAE)

Recalled by his request, preferred in quite another tone of voice, I did the honours of the shaving-pot; but I did them with an unsteadiness of hand, a sudden sense of being no match for him, and a perplexed suspicious anxiety as to what he might be going to say next, which I felt could not escape his observation.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

After such behaviour, as I have witnessed during the last month, to Miss Smith—such attentions as I have been in the daily habit of observing—to be addressing me in this manner—this is an unsteadiness of character, indeed, which I had not supposed possible!

(Emma, by Jane Austen)