Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly. [1913 Webster]
Capable of wasting away, or of easily passing into the aëriform state; subject to evaporation. [1913 Webster]
" Substances which affect the smell with pungent or fragrant odors, as musk, hartshorn, and essential oils, are called volatile substances, because they waste away on exposure to the atmosphere. Alcohol and ether are called volatile liquids for a similar reason, and because they easily pass into the state of vapor on the application of heat. On the contrary, gold is a fixed substance, because it does not suffer waste, even when exposed to the heat of a furnace; and oils are called fixed when they do not evaporate on simple exposure to the atmosphere." [1913 Webster]
Fig.: Light-hearted; easily affected by circumstances; airy; lively; hence, changeable; fickle; as, a volatile temper. [1913 Webster]
"You are as giddy and volatile as ever." [1913 Webster]

Volatile alkali. (Old Chem.) See under Alkali. -- Volatile liniment, a liniment composed of sweet oil and ammonia, so called from the readiness with which the latter evaporates. -- Volatile oils. (Chem.) See Essential oils, under Essential.

Volatile, n. [Cf. F. volatile.].

A winged animal; wild fowl; game. Chaucer. Sir T. Browne. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

Volatile, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 evaporating rapidly (volatile salts).
2 changeable, fickle.
3 lively, light-hearted.
4 apt to break out into violence.
5 transient.
--n. a volatile substance.

Idiom

volatile oil = essential oil.

Derivative

volatileness n. volatility n.

Etymology

OF volatil or L volatilis f. volare volat- fly

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THESAURUS

Volatile

adrift, afloat, agitable, airy, alternating, amorphous, birdbrained, birdwitted, bouncy, brittle, bubbly, buoyant, capricious, changeable, changeful, charged, coquettish, corruptible, deciduous, desultory, deviable, dizzy, downy, dying, eccentric, edgy, effervescent, ephemeral, erratic, eruptive, ethereal, evanescent, evaporable, evaporative, expansive, explosive, faddish, fading, fast and loose, featherbrained, feathery, fickle, fitful, fleeting, flickering, flighty, flippant, flirtatious, flitting, fluctuating, fluffy, fly-by-night, flying, foamy, fragile, frail, freakish, frivolous, frothy, fugacious, fugitive, giddy, gossamery, hair-trigger, impermanent, impetuous, imponderous, impulsive, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, infirm, insubstantial, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, leger, light, light as air, light-minded, lighter than vanity, lubricious, mazy, mercurial, momentary, moody, mortal, mousse, mutable, nondurable, nonpermanent, passing, perishable, protean, quicksilver, rambling, resilient, restless, roving, scatterbrained, sensitive, shallow, shallow-headed, shallow-minded, shallow-pated, shallow-witted, shapeless, shifting, shifty, short-lived, shuffling, skittery, skittish, souffle, spasmodic, spineless, startlish, superficial, temperamental, temporal, temporary, tense, ticklish, toying, transient, transitive, transitory, unaccountable, uncertain, uncontrolled, undependable, undisciplined, undurable, unenduring, unfixed, unheavy, unpredictable, unprofound, unreliable, unrestrained, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, vacillating, vagrant, vaporable, vaporescent, vaporizable, vaporizing, variable, versatile, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatilizable, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, weightless, whimsical, wishy-washy, yeasty

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ROGET THESAURUS

Volatile

Irresolution

N irresolution, infirmity of purpose, indecision, indetermination, undetermination, unsettlement, uncertainty, demur, suspense, hesitating, hesitation, hesitancy, vacillation, changeableness, fluctuation, alternation, caprice, fickleness, levity, legerete, pliancy, weakness, timidity, cowardice, half measures, waverer, ass between two bundles of hay, shuttlecock, butterfly, wimp, doughface, irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted, undecided, unresolved, undetermined, shilly-shally, fidgety, tremulous, hesitating, off one's balance, at a loss, vacillating, unsteady, unsteadfast, fickle, without ballast, capricious, volatile, frothy, light, lightsome, light-minded, giddy, fast and loose, weak, feeble-minded, frail, timid, wimpish, wimpy, cowardly, dough-faced, facile, pliant, unable to say 'no', easy-going revocable, reversible, irresolutely, irresolved, irresolvedly, in faltering accents, off and on, from pillar to post, seesaw, Int, how happy could I be with either!.

Caprice

N caprice, fancy, humor, whim, whimsy, whimsey, whimwham, crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade, wild-goose chase, capriciousness, kink, capricious, erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical, full of whims, maggoty, inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky, particular, humorsome, freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward, contrary, captious, arbitrary, unconformable, penny wise and pound foolish, fickle, frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile, by fits and starts, without rhyme or reason, nil fuit unquain sic inipar sibi, the deuce is in him.

Excitability

N excitability, impetuosity, vehemence, boisterousness, turbulence, impatience, intolerance, nonendurance, irritability, itching, wincing, disquiet, disquietude, restlessness, fidgets, fidgetiness, agitation, trepidation, perturbation, ruffle, hurry, fuss, flurry, fluster, flutter, pother, stew, ferment, whirl, buck fever, hurry-skurry, thrill, state of excitement, fever of excitement, transport, passion, excitement, flush, heat, fever, heat, fire, flame, fume, blood boiling, tumult, effervescence, ebullition, boiling over, whiff, gust, story, tempest, scene, breaking out, burst, fit, paroxysm, explosion, outbreak, outburst, agony, violence, fierceness, rage, fury, furor, furore, desperation, madness, distraction, raving, delirium, phrensy, frenzy, hysterics, intoxication, tearing passion, raging passion, anger, fascination, infatuation, fanaticism, Quixotism, Quixotry, tete montee, excitable, easily excited, in an excitable state, high-strung, irritable, impatient, intolerant, feverish, febrile, hysterical, delirious, mad, moody, maggoty- headed, unquiet, mercurial, electric, galvanic, hasty, hurried, restless, fidgety, fussy, chafing, startlish, mettlesome, high-mettled, skittish, vehement, demonstrative, violent, wild, furious, fierce, fiery, hot-headed, madcap, overzealous, enthusiastic, impassioned, fanatical, rabid, rampant, clamorous, uproarious, turbulent, tempestuous, tumultuary, boisterous, impulsive, impetuous, passionate, uncontrolled, uncontrollable, ungovernable, irrepressible, stanchless, inextinguishable, burning, simmering, volcanic, ready to burst forth, volatile, excited, exciting, Int, pish!, pshaw!, noli me tangere, filled with fury, rapt, inspir'd, maggiore fretta minore atto.

Levity

N levity, lightness, imponderability, buoyancy, volatility, feather, dust, mote, down, thistle, down, flue, cobweb, gossamer, straw, cork, bubble, balloon, float, buoy, ether, air, leaven, ferment, barm, yeast, lighter-than-air balloon, helium balloon, hydrogen balloon, hot air balloon, convection, thermal draft, thermal, light, subtile, airy, imponderous, imponderable, astatic, weightless, ethereal, sublimated, gossamery, suberose, suberous, uncompressed, volatile, buoyant, floating, portable, light as a feather, light as a thistle, light as air, lighter than air, rise like a balloon, float like a balloon.

Gaseity

N gaseity, vaporousness, flatulence, flatulency, volatility, aeration, aerification, elastic fluid, gas, air, vapor, ether, steam, essence, fume, reek, effluvium, flatus, cloud, ammonia, ammoniacal gas, volatile alkali, vacuum, partial vacuum, pneumatics, pneumatostatics, aerostatics, aerodynamics, gasmeter, gasometer, air bladder, swimming bladder, sound, (of a fish), gaseous, aeriform, ethereal, aerial, airy, vaporous, volatile, evaporable, flatulent.

Vaporization

N vaporization, volatilization, gasification, evaporation, vaporation, distillation, cupellation, cohobation, sublimination, exhalation, volatility, vaporizer, still, retort, fumigation, steaming, bay salt, chloride of sodium, mister, spray, bubble, effervescence, ', volatilized, reeking, volatile, evaporable, vaporizable, bubbly, effervescent, boiling, Specific Fluids.

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