Definition: erratic

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Source: WordNet (r) 1.7 

erratic
     adj 1: having no fixed course; "an erratic comet"; "his life
            followed a wandering course"; "a planetary vagabond"
            [syn: planetary, wandering]
     2: liable to sudden unpredictable change; "erratic behavior";
        "fickle weather"; "mercurial twists of temperament"; "a
        quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment,
        utterly fragile the next" [syn: fickle, mercurial, quicksilver]
     3: likely to perform unpredictably; "erratic winds are the bane
        of a sailor"; "a temperamental motor; sometimes it would
        start and sometimes it wouldn't"; "that beautiful but
        temperamental instrument the flute"- Osbert Lancaster
        [syn: temperamental]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) 

Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, n.
   1. One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one
      who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual
      character.
Erratic \Er*rat"ic\, a. [L. erraticus, fr. errare to wander: cf.
   F. erratique. See Err.]
   1. Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed
      destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the
      planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.

            The earth and each erratic world.     --Blackmore.

   2. Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or
      conduct; eccentric; strange; queer; as, erratic conduct.

   3. Irregular; changeable. ``Erratic fever.'' --Harvey.

   Erratic blocks, gravel, etc. (Geol.), masses of stone
      which have been transported from their original resting
      places by the agency of water, ice, or other causes.

   Erratic phenomena, the phenomena which relate to
      transported materials on the earth's surface.