different between cranky vs erratic

English

Etymology

From crank +? -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?æ?ki/
• Rhymes: -æ?ki

Adjective

cranky (comparative crankier, superlative crankiest)

1. (obsolete) Weak, unwell.
2. (of a machine, etc.) Not in good working condition.

   Synonym: shaky

   • 1914, Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, The River of Doubt,

     We had seven canoes, all of them dugouts. One was small, one was cranky, and two were old, waterlogged, and leaky. The other three were good.

3. Grouchy, grumpy, irritable; easily upset.

4. Not in perfect mental working order; eccentric, peculiar.
   • 1934 December, Robert E. Howard, The Road to Bear Creek, in Action Stories,

     Uncle Esau is as cranky as hell, and a peculiar old duck, but I think he'll like a fine upstanding young man as big as you be.

5. (archaic) Full of spirit; spirited.
6. Synonym of crank (“of a ship: liable to capsize because of poorly stowed cargo or insufficient ballast”)

   a cranky vessel

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• erratick, erraticke, erratique (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin erraticus; compare Old French erratique.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???æt?k/
• Rhymes: -æt?k

Adjective

erratic (comparative more erratic, superlative most erratic)

1. unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent

   Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.

2. Deviating from normal opinions or actions; eccentric; odd.

   erratic conduct

Antonyms

• consistent

Derived terms

• erratical
• erratically
• erraticness

Translations

Noun

erratic (plural erratics)

1. (geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA 2003, p. 372:

     The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic, but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.

2. Anything that has erratic characteristics.

Synonyms

• (glaciers): dropstone

Translations

Anagrams

• Cartier, cartier, cirrate, rice rat