All 3 Uses of
constant
in
Romeo and Juliet
- True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy;
Which is as thin of substance as the air,
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.†p. 46.6inconstant = changing or not reliablestandard prefix: The prefix "in-" in inconstant means not and reverses the meaning of constant. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.
- O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.p. 74.8 *
- And this shall free thee from this present shame,
If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear
Abate thy valour in the acting it.†p. 192.5
Definition:
unchanging, continuous, or happening repeatedly