VOLATILE


Meaning of VOLATILE in English

— volatility /vol'euh til"i tee/ , volatileness , n.

/vol"euh tl, -til/ or, esp. Brit., /-tuyl'/ , adj.

1. evaporating rapidly; passing off readily in the form of vapor: Acetone is a volatile solvent.

2. tending or threatening to break out into open violence; explosive: a volatile political situation.

3. changeable; mercurial; flighty: a volatile disposition.

4. (of prices, values, etc.) tending to fluctuate sharply and regularly: volatile market conditions.

5. fleeting; transient: volatile beauty.

6. Computers. of or pertaining to storage that does not retain data when electrical power is turned off or fails.

7. able to fly or flying.

n.

8. a volatile substance, as a gas or solvent.

[ 1250-1300; ME volatilis, equiv. to volat ( us ) (ptp. of volare to fly; see -ATE 1 ) + -ilis -ILE ]

Syn. 2. eruptive, unstable, unsettled.

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .