unpredictable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ predictable.

Adjective

unpredictable (comparative more unpredictable, superlative most unpredictable)

1. Unable to be predicted.

   Synonyms: (far less common) nonpredictable, vagabond

   Antonym: predictable

   Hyponym: temperamental

   • 1958 September, C. Alan Cook, “Johannesburg's Fourth Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 639:

     It has, therefore, always been a major problem for South African railways to cater adequately for this unpredictable city; three stations have had to be built on the present site during the last fifty years.

   • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 146:

     Sharks are not unpredictable; for the most part, they do exactly what an apex predator is expected to do.

Derived terms

• unpredictability
• unpredictableness
• unpredictably

Related terms

• unpredicted

Translations

unable to be predicted

Armenian: անկանխատեսելի (ankanxateseli) Belarusian: непрадказа́льны (njepradkazálʹny) Bulgarian: непредсказу́ем (nepredskazúem) Catalan: imprevisible Chinese: Mandarin: 不可預知的 / 不可预知的 (bùkě yùzhī de) Czech: nepředvídatelný (cs) Danish: uforudsigelig Dutch: onvoorspelbaar (nl) Finnish: ennalta-arvaamaton (fi), ennustamaton (fi), odottamaton (fi) French: imprévisible (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: unvorhersagbar Hebrew: בלתי צפוי (bílti tsafúy) Hungarian: kiszámíthatatlan (hu) Icelandic: óútreiknanlegur (is), ófyrirsjáanlegur Italian: imprevedibile (it) m or f Japanese: 予測できない (ja) (よそくできない, yosoku dekinai), 先が見えない (さきがみえない, saki ga mienai) Korean: 예측할 수 없다 (yecheukhal su eopda) Macedonian: непредвидлив (nepredvidliv) Maori: matawhawhati, kumukumu Norwegian: Bokmål: uforutsigbar Persian: غیر قابل پیش‌بینی (ġeyr-e qâbel-e piš-bini) Polish: nieprzewidywalny (pl) Portuguese: imprevisível (pt) Romanian: neprevizibil, impredictibil, imprevizibil (ro) Russian: непредсказу́емый (ru) (nepredskazújemyj) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: непредвѝдљив Roman: nepredvìdljiv (sh) Slovak: nepredvídateľný Slovene: nepredvidljiv Spanish: impredecible Swedish: oförutsägbar (sv) Ukrainian: непередба́чуваний (neperedbáčuvanyj)

See also

• unpredictive

Noun

unpredictable (plural unpredictables)

1. An unpredictable thing.
   • 1960, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Motor Vehicle Safety: Hearing..., page 12:

     Other unpredictables, like the recent unexpected blizzards and those of 2 years ago, or a hurricane can cost us many thousands of dollars, and have a severe impact on equipment and facilities.

Translations

unpredictable thing

Chinese: Mandarin: 不可預知的事情, 不可预知的事情 (bù kě yùzhī de shìqíng) Finnish: yllätys (fi) French: imprévisible (fr) German: Unvorhersehbares n Hebrew: בלתי צפוי (bílti tsafúy) Italian: imprevisto (it) m Japanese: 一寸先は闇 (ja) (issunsaki ha yami)