unpredictable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ predictable.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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)
• Māori: 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

  Latin: 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)