waywardness
Defiant, erratic behavior
Waywardness is the quality of being difficult to control or predict—following one's own whims rather than rules or expectations.
It suggests stubborn self-will, often with a hint of erratic or capricious behavior: the waywardness of youth, the waywardness of fate.
The word carries mild disapproval but sometimes affection for the unpredictable.
Refusal to follow orders
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
- obstinacyUnyielding adherence to position
- willfulnessIntentional resistance to direction
intractability · noncompliance · unruliness · contrariness · perversity · stubbornness · resistance · indiscipline
Traveling with no fixed course
- deviationDeparture from expected path
- astrayOff the right path
- roamingMoving without fixed purpose
- driftingMoving without purpose
veering · divergence · errant · off-course · meandering · digression · aberration · departure
Lacking regularity or consistency
- capriciousSubject to sudden changes
- whimsicalPlayfully fanciful or erratic
- fickleErratically disloyal in affection
- mercurialProne to sudden change
inconsistent · volatile · temperamental · changeable · unreliable · flighty · impulsive · spontaneous
Departure from accepted standards
- individualismDoctrine of personal independence
- eccentricityUnconventional behavior or nature
- bohemianismArtistic rejection of convention
- iconoclasmAttacking revered traditions
unorthodoxy · free-thinking · heterodoxy · originality · idiosyncrasy · maverick · countercultural · dissidence
Difficult to control
- untamedNot domesticated
- ungovernableImpossible to control
- uncontrollableImpossible to restrain
- unbridledWithout any restraint
unrestrained · dissolute · licentious · wanton · profligate · rakish · reckless · abandoned
disobedience
Refusal to follow orders
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
- obstinacyUnyielding adherence to position
willfulness · intractability · noncompliance · unruliness · contrariness · perversity · stubbornness · resistance · indiscipline · disregard
wandering
Traveling with no fixed course
drifting · veering · divergence · errant · off-course · meandering · digression · aberration · departure · swerving
erratic
Lacking regularity or consistency
- capriciousSubject to sudden changes
- whimsicalPlayfully fanciful or erratic
- fickleErratically disloyal in affection
mercurial · inconsistent · volatile · temperamental · changeable · unreliable · flighty · impulsive · spontaneous · unsteady
unconventionality
Departure from accepted standards
- individualismDoctrine of personal independence
- eccentricityUnconventional behavior or nature
- bohemianismArtistic rejection of convention
iconoclasm · unorthodoxy · free-thinking · heterodoxy · originality · idiosyncrasy · maverick · countercultural · dissidence · freethinking
unruly
Difficult to control
- untamedNot domesticated
- ungovernableImpossible to control
- uncontrollableImpossible to restrain
unbridled · unrestrained · dissolute · licentious · wanton · profligate · rakish · reckless · abandoned · dissipated
- defiancedefiance, disobedience, insubordination, noncompliance, rebellion
- misbehaviormisbehave, misbehavior, mischief, misconduct, naughty
- mischiefmischief, hijinks, antics, pranks, antic
- unrulinessmisbehavior, misconduct, disobedience, defiance, insubordination
- deviancedeviance, perversion, perversity, aberration, abnormality
- aimlessnessaimlessness, directionless, drifting, purposelessness, wandering
waywardnessobedience
Compliance with authority
compliance · docility · submissiveness · tractability · deference
waywardnesssteadfastness
Firm loyal dedication
consistency · constancy · reliability · predictability · steadiness
waywardnessrighteousness
Moral correctness or virtue
rectitude · virtue · uprightness · piety · godliness