inconsistency

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɪnkənˈsɪst(ə)nsi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɪnkənˈsɪstənsi/

• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

  (file)

Noun

inconsistency (countable and uncountable, plural inconsistencies)

1. The state of being inconsistent.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 4–5:

     It was a strange inconsistency, but never till then had I been so much struck with the worthless and frivolous life of society. Never till then did I feel the deep and eternal debt of gratitude that human nature owes to those who assert its higher influence; who feel their generous activity stirred by a thrice noble emulation; who appeal from the present to the future, and redeem their kind, by shewing of how much that is good and great ambition and genius are capable.

2. (logic) An incompatibility between two propositions that cannot both be true.

Synonyms

• contrariety
• deviation
• difference
• disagreement
• disparity
• disproportion
• disproportionateness
• dissimilarity
• dissonance
• divergence
• incongruity
• inconsonance
• inequality
• paradox
• unlikeness
• variance

Antonyms

• consistency

Derived terms

• dynamic inconsistency
• time inconsistency

Translations

state of being inconsistent

Armenian: անհետևողականություն (hy) (anhetewoġakanutʻyun), անկապակացություն (ankapakacʻutʻyun) Catalan: inconsistència f Cebuano: inkonsistensi Dutch: inconsistentie (nl) f, tegenstrijdigheid (nl) f Esperanto: malakordo Greek: ανακολουθία (el) f (anakolouthía) Irish: neamh-chomhsheasmhacht f, neamhfhreagracht f Japanese: ねじれ (ja) (nejire), 不一致 (ja) (fuicchi) Malay: kesenjangan (ms) Maori: haraki Portuguese: inconsistência (pt) f Romanian: inconsistență (ro) Scottish Gaelic: mì-chòrdadh m Serbo-Croatian: Roman: nedosljenost f Spanish: inconsistencia (es) f Tagalog: pagkadimaugnayin Ukrainian: непослідо́вність f (neposlidóvnistʹ), неузго́дженість f (neuzhódženistʹ), невідпові́дність f (nevidpovídnistʹ)