different between inconsistent vs unclear

English

Etymology

in- +? consistent

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nk?n?s?st?nt/

Adjective

inconsistent (comparative more inconsistent, superlative most inconsistent)

1. Not consistent:

   Antonym: consistent

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

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

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

      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, The Christian Reformer (ed. Robert Aspland):

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

   3. 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 [...]”

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

Derived terms

• inconsistently

Related terms

• inconsistency

Translations

Anagrams

• nonscientist

Catalan

Etymology

in- +? consistent

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /i?.kon.sis?tent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /i?.kun.sis?ten/

Adjective

inconsistent (masculine and feminine plural inconsistents)

1. inconsistent

   Antonym: consistent

Related terms

• inconsistència

Further reading

• “inconsistent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “inconsistent” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “inconsistent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “inconsistent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Romanian

Etymology

From French inconsistant

Adjective

inconsistent m or n (feminine singular inconsistent?, masculine plural inconsisten?i, feminine and neuter plural inconsistente)

1. inconsistent

Declension

English

Etymology

From Middle English unclere, equivalent to un- +? clear. Compare Saterland Frisian uunkloor (“unclear”), West Frisian ûnklear (“inoperative, broken”), Dutch onklaar (“out of order, defective, broken”), German unklar (“unclear”), Danish uklar (“unclear”), Swedish oklar (“unclear”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?kl??/
• Rhymes: -??(r)

Adjective

unclear (comparative unclearer or more unclear, superlative unclearest or most unclear)

1. Ambiguous; liable to more than one interpretation.
2. Not clearly or explicitly defined.
3. Not easy to see or read; indecipherable or unreadable.
4. Not having a clear idea; uncertain.

   I'm still unclear about what she meant by that remark.

Derived terms

• unclearly (adv)

Translations

Anagrams

• crenula, lucarne, nuclear