unreliable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ reliable.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌʌn.ɹɪˈlaɪ.ə.bl̩/, /ʌn.ɹɪˈlaɪ.ə.bl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌʌn.ɹəˈlaɪ.ə.bəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪəbəl
• Hyphenation: un‧re‧li‧a‧ble

Adjective

unreliable (comparative more unreliable, superlative most unreliable)

1. Not reliable.

   Synonyms: flakey, sporadic, undependable

   Antonym: reliable

   • 1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 22:

     Tell one another whether any one of you has ever heard me discuss such questions briefly or at length; and then you will realize that the other popular reports about me are equally unreliable.

   • 2018 January 4, Janie Tankard Carnock, “Frigid Baltimore City schools: The racism we haven’t confronted”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     The opposite issue emerges in the summer when students face scorching temperatures with unreliable or nonexistent air conditioning.

   • 2020 May 6, Philip Haigh, “Just one more stop on the long journey to HS2 fulfillment [sic]”, in Rail, page 65:

     "Operating the WCML at this intensity makes it challenging to maintain acceptable performance levels, resulting in a frustratingly unreliable service for passengers. Minor disruption can escalate into significant delays because a train running only a few minutes late can miss its slot across a junction, resulting in a snowballing effect across the network."

Derived terms

• unreliably
• unreliable narrator

Related terms

• unreliability

Translations

not reliable

• Albanian: i pasigurt (sq)
• Azerbaijani: etibarsız
• Basque: ganoragabe, ganorabako
• Belarusian: ненадзе́йны (njenadzjéjny)
• Bulgarian: ненадежден (bg) (nenadežden)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不可靠的

• Czech: nespolehlivý (cs)
• Danish: upålidelig
• Dutch: onbetrouwbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: nefidinda
• Finnish: epäluotettava (fi)
• French: non fiable, à qui on ne peut pas se fier
• German: unzuverlässig (de)
• Greek: αναξιόπιστος (el) (anaxiópistos)
• Haitian Creole: infidèl
• Hungarian: megbízhatatlan (hu)
• Icelandic: óáreiðanlegur (is)
• Irish: abhógach, ainfhéichiúnta, feillbhéasach, neamhchoinníollach, neamhiontaofa, neamh-mhuiníneach
• Italian: inaffidabile (it)
• Kazakh: сенімсіз (senımsız), тұрақсыз (tūraqsyz)
• Macedonian: недо́верлив (nedóverliv), нена́дежен (nenádežen), неси́гурен (nesíguren)
• Māori: kahurakiraki, māngina, hārakiraki, hurori, kōnukenuke, kahurangi (mi), māngina, mōngina, hārekereke
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: upålitelig (no)

  Nynorsk: upåliteleg

• Plautdietsch: onbestendich
• Polish: nierzetelny, awaryjny (pl) (of a mechanical system)
• Portuguese: não confiável, inconfiável
• Russian: ненадёжный (ru) (nenadjóžnyj), неблагонадёжный (ru) (neblagonadjóžnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: nepouzdan (sh)
• Spanish: no fidedigno, non fiable, poco confiable
• Swedish: opålitlig (sv)
• Tocharian B: empakwatte
• Turkish: güvenilmez (tr)
• Ukrainian: ненаді́йний (nenadíjnyj)
• Welsh: gwantan (cy), annibynadwy (cy)

Noun

unreliable (plural unreliables)

1. One who or that which cannot be relied upon.
   • 1894, Inebriety: its treatment and cure, page 17:

     His employment by the leading papers in Chicago was intermittent, as he was classed among the unreliables. One could never tell when he was going to get drunk.

Anagrams

• Bleulerian