inconsistent

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-bor.

Middle English in-

English in-

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-

Proto-Indo-European *stísteh₂ti

Proto-Italic *sistō

Latin sistō

Latin cōnsistō

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Latin -ns

Latin -ens

Latin consistensbor.

English consistent

English inconsistent

From in- + consistent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪnkənˈsɪstənt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

inconsistent (comparative more inconsistent, superlative most inconsistent)

1. Not consistent:

   Antonym: consistent

   2. Not compatible (with another thing); incompatible, discrepant, at odds.

      His account of the evening was inconsistent with the security-camera footage.

      • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 464:

        There was of course no question of admitting that the two texts were in any way inconsistent with each other.

   3. Lacking internal consistency; self-contradicting; not compatible with itself.

      Synonyms: spotty, mixed

      He gave an inconsistent account of the evening, saying he called her before eight, but later that he had not talked to her until after nine.

      • 1862, Robert Aspland, editor, The Christian Reformer:

        He was one of those men of inconsistent politics, governed at once by prejudice and sympathies, whose 'attitude' it is impossible to foretell.

   4. Not consistent or coherent in thought or behavior.
      • 1848, The Columbian Magazine, volume 9, page 88:

        “Take him for better or worse,” added Mr. Lee, “and I think he is the strangest and most inconsistent man I ever saw.”
        “Inconsistent!” resumed Mr. Jones. “He is worse than inconsistent. Inconsistencies may be pardoned as constitutional defects [...]”

   5. (logic) Having the property that a contradiction can be derived.

Derived terms

• inconsistently
• inconsistentness

Related terms

• inconsistency

Translations

not compatible

• Bulgarian: несъвместим (bg) (nesăvmestim)
• German: nicht kompatibel (mit), nicht vereinbar (mit), fremd (de)
• Hungarian: ellentmondó (hu), összeegyeztethetetlen (hu)
• Latin: alienus (la)
• Turkish: tutarsız (tr)

not consistent

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: непоследователен (bg) (neposledovatelen), противоречив (bg) (protivorečiv)
• Catalan: inconsistent
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不一致的 (bù yīzhì de)

• Czech: nekonzistentní (cs)
• Esperanto: malakorda
• Finnish: epäjohdonmukainen (fi), inkonsistentti, epäkonsistentti, vaihteleva (fi)
• French: incohérent (fr), incompatible (fr)
• Galician: inconsistente
• Georgian: შეუთავსებელი (šeutavsebeli)
• German: inkonsistent (de), widersprüchlich (de), stimmt nicht überein
• Greek: ανακόλουθος (el) (anakólouthos)

  Ancient Greek: ἀνακόλουθος (anakólouthos)

• Hungarian: inkonzisztens (hu), következetlen (hu)
• Indonesian: inkonsisten (id)
• Italian: inconsistente (it)
• Latin: inconstans
• Māori: hārakiraki
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: inkonsekvent (no), selvmotsigende

  Nynorsk: inkonsekvent, sjølvmotseiande

• Occitan: inconsistent
• Plautdietsch: onbestendich
• Polish: niekonsekwentny (pl), niespójny (pl), sprzeczny (pl)
• Portuguese: inconsistente (pt)
• Romanian: neconsistent (ro), inconsistent (ro)
• Russian: рассогласованный (ru) (rassoglasovannyj), непостоя́нный (ru) (nepostojánnyj), непосле́довательный (ru) (neposlédovatelʹnyj), противоречи́вый (ru) (protivorečívyj), неусто́йчивый (ru) (neustójčivyj), изме́нчивый (ru) (izménčivyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: mì-chòrdail
• Spanish: inconsistente (es), inconsecuente (es)
• Swedish: inkonsekvent (sv)
• Turkish: çelişkili (tr), tutarsız (tr)

Anagrams

• nonscientist

Catalan

Etymology

From in- +‎ consistent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [iŋ.kun.sisˈte̞n]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [iŋ.kon.sisˈtent]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [iŋ.kun.sisˈten]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [iŋ.kon.sisˈten]

Adjective

inconsistent m or f (masculine and feminine plural inconsistents)

1. inconsistent

   Antonym: consistent

Related terms

• inconsistència

Further reading

• “inconsistent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “inconsistent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “inconsistent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “inconsistent”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Dutch

Etymology

From in- +‎ consistent.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

inconsistent (comparative inconsistenter, superlative inconsistentst)

1. inconsistent

   Antonym: consistent

Declension

Declension of inconsistent
uninflected	inconsistent
inflected	inconsistente
comparative	inconsistenter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		inconsistent	inconsistenter	het inconsistentst het inconsistentste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	inconsistente	inconsistentere	inconsistentste
	n. sing.	inconsistent	inconsistenter	inconsistentste
	plural	inconsistente	inconsistentere	inconsistentste
definite		inconsistente	inconsistentere	inconsistentste
partitive		inconsistents	inconsistenters	—

Derived terms

• inconsistentie

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-lbor.

French in-

French consistant

French inconsistantbor.

Romanian inconsistent

Borrowed from French inconsistant. By surface analysis, in- + consistent.

Adjective

inconsistent m or n (feminine singular inconsistentă, masculine plural inconsistenți, feminine/neuter plural inconsistente)

1. inconsistent

Declension

Declension of inconsistent

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	inconsistent		inconsistentă	inconsistenți	inconsistente
	definite	inconsistentul		inconsistenta	inconsistenții	inconsistentele
genitive- dative	indefinite	inconsistent		inconsistente	inconsistenți	inconsistente
	definite	inconsistentului		inconsistentei	inconsistenților	inconsistentelor