instability

From Middle French instabilité, from Latin instabilitas.

Morphologically in- +‎ stability.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnstəˈbɪlɪti/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌɪnstəˈbɪləti/, [ˌɪnstəˈbɪləɾi]

  • Audio (Colorado):

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• Rhymes: -ɪlɪti

instability (countable and uncountable, plural instabilities)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being unstable.

   Synonyms: unstability, unstableness, volatility

   Hyponyms: shakiness, topheaviness, spindliness, clumsiness

   Coordinate terms: insecurity, uncertainty, risk, riskiness

   • 2026 April 8, Robert Tait, “Trump may be using Nixon’s ‘madman theory’ – and similar infamy may await”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 8 April 2026:

     The template is [Richard] Nixon’s “madman theory” of diplomatic engagement – shorthand for prompting your adversaries to doubt your sanity and mental instability to the point where they are intimidated into otherwise unlikely concessions.

2. (physics, countable) A state that is not in equilibrium, or in which a small change has a large irreversible effect.

• instable (adjective)
• stability (noun)

• disequilibrium