volubile

English

Alternative forms

• volubilate

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French volubile, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin volūbilis (“rolling”), from volvō (“I roll”). See voluble.

Adjective

volubile (comparative more volubile, superlative most volubile)

1. (chiefly botany) Turning or whirling; winding.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     […] or this less volubile earth,
     By shorter flight to th' east,
     had left him there
     Arraying with reflected purple and gold
     The clouds that on his western throne attend.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “volubile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

---

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

volubile (plural volubiles)

1. inconstant, changeable, variable

Further reading

• “volubile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

---

Interlingua

Adjective

volubile (comparative plus volubile, superlative le plus volubile)

1. voluble

---

Italian

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Latin volūbilis (“turning”).

Adjective

1. inconstant, changeable, variable
2. shifty
3. fickle, moody

Related terms

• volubilità
• volubilmente

---

Latin

Adjective

(deprecated template usage) volūbile

1. nominative neuter singular of volūbilis
2. accusative neuter singular of volūbilis
3. vocative neuter singular of volūbilis

---

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin volūbilis.

Adjective

volubile m or f (plural volubiles)

1. inconstant, variable; changeable
2. movable; moving

Descendants

• French: volubile

References

• volubile on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)