volatile

C1 · Advanced Finance Academic

adj. changing quickly and often, especially in value or price.

adj. tending to fluctuate sharply and regularly in value or price.

“Investors are worried about the volatile stock market this month.”

“The central bank warned that volatile exchange rates could undermine the recovery of the export sector over the next fiscal year.”

C1 · Advanced Science Technical

adj. describing a liquid that changes into a gas very easily.

adj. evaporating rapidly at normal temperatures and pressures.

“Petrol is a volatile liquid that should be stored in a cool place.”

“The laboratory technician handled the volatile solvents under a fume hood to prevent the inhalation of toxic vapours.”

C1 · Advanced Computing Technical

adj. describing computer memory that loses its data when the power is turned off.

adj. retaining data only as long as power is supplied; data is lost upon power termination.

“RAM is volatile memory, so you must save your work to the hard drive.”

“The system architecture relies on volatile cache memory to speed up processing, though critical logs are mirrored to a persistent storage device.”

C2 · Proficiency Countable noun Science Technical

n. a substance that changes into a gas easily.

n. a substance that readily vaporises at relatively low temperatures.

“The moon's surface is very dry and contains few volatiles like water.”

“Geologists analysed the volcanic gases to determine the concentration of volatiles released during the eruption.”