It's very ... uhhh weathery?
July 15, 2010 7:11 PM Subscribe
WordsmithFilter: Give me an adjective for something along the lines of: "having varied or constantly changing (but not necessarily extreme) weather"?
protean
posted by Tristram Shandy, Gentleman at 7:15 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by Tristram Shandy, Gentleman at 7:15 PM on July 15, 2010
capricious
posted by driftingclouds at 7:16 PM on July 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by driftingclouds at 7:16 PM on July 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
changeable
posted by goblinbox at 7:17 PM on July 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by goblinbox at 7:17 PM on July 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
meandering
posted by Babblesort at 7:18 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by Babblesort at 7:18 PM on July 15, 2010
fluctuating
posted by Ky at 7:20 PM on July 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Ky at 7:20 PM on July 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
Faithless
posted by digitalprimate at 7:20 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by digitalprimate at 7:20 PM on July 15, 2010
mercurial
posted by exlotuseater at 7:22 PM on July 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by exlotuseater at 7:22 PM on July 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
dynamic
posted by exlotuseater at 7:23 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by exlotuseater at 7:23 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Are you looking for one word that captures that whole meaning, weather and all? If so, I think "weatherful" is actually pretty fine; to say that a place is weatherful (i.e., "full of weather") makes perfect sense to me.
posted by peachfuzz at 7:23 PM on July 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by peachfuzz at 7:23 PM on July 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
erratic
posted by felix betachat at 7:26 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by felix betachat at 7:26 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
undulating.
posted by alex_skazat at 7:32 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by alex_skazat at 7:32 PM on July 15, 2010
variable
posted by alligatorman at 7:39 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by alligatorman at 7:39 PM on July 15, 2010
tempestuous
posted by at the crossroads at 7:40 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by at the crossroads at 7:40 PM on July 15, 2010
Perhaps "temperamental."
In other news, there's an old piece of advice pertaining to Newfoundland weather: if you've been there 3 months and still haven't seen the sun yet, wait another 5 minutes. Just putting that out there.
posted by YamwotIam at 7:41 PM on July 15, 2010
In other news, there's an old piece of advice pertaining to Newfoundland weather: if you've been there 3 months and still haven't seen the sun yet, wait another 5 minutes. Just putting that out there.
posted by YamwotIam at 7:41 PM on July 15, 2010
San Francisco-y?
I think variable is what I hear most for weather.
posted by grapesaresour at 7:44 PM on July 15, 2010
I think variable is what I hear most for weather.
posted by grapesaresour at 7:44 PM on July 15, 2010
I'm not sure there;s a specific word for that, but I like weathery and weatherful. Maybe weatherratic or fluctuweathery, if a made up word would do. Of course if you change the sentence from "It's very _______" to "The weather is very ________" there are all kinds of options.
posted by Balonious Assault at 7:45 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Balonious Assault at 7:45 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
tempestuous, if you're looking for a weather word, but I think it might be a little to specific.
posted by wayland at 7:57 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by wayland at 7:57 PM on July 15, 2010
volatile
posted by sciencegeek at 8:32 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by sciencegeek at 8:32 PM on July 15, 2010
As exlotuseater says, the word you're looking for is mercurial. Look it up. This is precisely the definition.
posted by jdroth at 8:35 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by jdroth at 8:35 PM on July 15, 2010
I'd go with mercurial.
But often I hear such weather described as "schizophrenic" - which I take as drawing comparison between the disjointed nature of the thought disorder and the seemingly-unrelated changes in weather.
posted by greekphilosophy at 9:26 PM on July 15, 2010
But often I hear such weather described as "schizophrenic" - which I take as drawing comparison between the disjointed nature of the thought disorder and the seemingly-unrelated changes in weather.
posted by greekphilosophy at 9:26 PM on July 15, 2010
I'd go with "changeable" because that is the actual, technical, weather-specific term, not just a word that can apply to a person or anything else.
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:50 PM on July 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:50 PM on July 15, 2010 [2 favorites]
nthing mercurial. Tempestuous also works, but it does sort of suggest rough weather. You could also go super-simple and use something like "ever-changing" or "unpredictable."
posted by Gilbert at 10:07 PM on July 15, 2010
posted by Gilbert at 10:07 PM on July 15, 2010
unsettled
posted by philip-random at 11:32 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by philip-random at 11:32 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
British (that's exactly what the weather's like here)
posted by altolinguistic at 12:37 AM on July 16, 2010
posted by altolinguistic at 12:37 AM on July 16, 2010
Scottish ("Don't like the weather? Wait ten minutes"). Much more changeable than other bits of the UK.
posted by Coobeastie at 3:45 AM on July 16, 2010
posted by Coobeastie at 3:45 AM on July 16, 2010
"Tempestuous" is exactly what you don't want, since it denotes a specific type of weather: a tempest.
posted by Jaltcoh at 4:44 AM on July 16, 2010
posted by Jaltcoh at 4:44 AM on July 16, 2010
Irish!
(Us north western europeans get non-stop, temperate conditions from the Gulf stream, so Scottish/British works too)
posted by rothar at 5:48 AM on July 16, 2010
(Us north western europeans get non-stop, temperate conditions from the Gulf stream, so Scottish/British works too)
posted by rothar at 5:48 AM on July 16, 2010
tickle a OED ~ a 5 'uncertain, unreliable'; EDD a 3 'variable, uncertain, esp of the weather'; cp TICKLE n. Uncertain, hazardous, treacherous, esp in place-names; RAGGED. [cl630-40] 1971 SEARY 60 [This] is a shift name from Tickle Harbour. . .'in the South corner of Tickle Bay, at the entrance of a salt water lake ... protected by a small islet and a reef of rocks.' [1786] 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii, 140-1 I was this morning seized with another violent sciatic fit... I was so well to-day, as to be able to sit up, but am in a very tickle state. 1842 JUKES i, 81 We met some fishing-boats that told us Tickle Harbour was a bad place to lie in, and one boat piloted us into a small cove called Chance Cove. 1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 127 From Western head the southeastern shore of Bonavista bay, which is steep and bold, trends about 2¾ miles south-south-westward to the entrance to Tickle cove, a fishing village where it is low, rugged, and bordered by rocks extending 2 cables offshore.
- from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English
posted by oulipian at 1:30 PM on July 16, 2010 [1 favorite]
- from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English
posted by oulipian at 1:30 PM on July 16, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm seconding fickle, for any use. But if you want to go from a plain wordsmith to a fabulous one, you need to think of the mood you're trying to evoke. Why are you describing the weather? What are you writing? If it's in fiction, what character is associated with this sentence, and what are their characteristics?
posted by shesaysgo at 7:45 PM on July 16, 2010
posted by shesaysgo at 7:45 PM on July 16, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ttyn at 7:14 PM on July 15, 2010 [1 favorite]