unreliable

Word family

un·re·li·a·ble /ˌʌnrɪˈlaɪəbəl◂/ AWL adjectiveadj

DEPEND/IT DEPENDSunable to be trusted or depended on 不可信赖的；不可靠的

The car’s becoming very unreliable.

这辆汽车的性能变得非常不稳定。

an unreliable witness

不可靠的证人

Examples from the Corpus

unreliable• Local telephone service is unreliable.• Telephone service in most of the country is unreliable.• We could ask our neighbours to feed the cat, but they're a little unreliable.• However, averages are notoriously unreliable.• Nor is the fact that a document is biased a reason for dismissing the document as worthless or unreliable.• Often the results are wrong, inadequate, untrustworthy, unreliable, and self-serving.• Service delivery is unreliable, and top jobs in key departments have gone unfilled for months.• She divorced me because of my unreliable behaviour and adultery, but wherever I go she is in my thoughts.• She did not dare to stop or rest because immediately she was surrounded by offers of unreliable help.• The concept of the unreliable narrator becomes a critique of the author himself.• Increasing mobility and various social changes have made the traditional family an unreliable source of old-age support.

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus

IELTS BNC: 8419 COCA: 10731

unreliable

Not reliable or trustworthy: official, unreliable, suspect...

Not definite or based on fact: apparently, supposed, alleged...