How to Use unreliable in a Sentence

unreliable

adjective
  • This is more than just an unreliable car.
    — Madeline Coleman, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Even the words that did present themselves could seem odd and unreliable.
    — Graham Swift, The New Yorker, 14 Nov. 2022
  • In my view, deal flow is now an unreliable proxy for value creation.
    — Peter Doyle, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026
  • The staff warned me not to expect it again; supply was very unreliable.
    — Ahmed Ali Akbar, Chicago Tribune, 16 Oct. 2024
  • This means brands are working with unreliable data from the get-go.
    — Peter Cohan, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2021
  • The bullpen has been unreliable.
    — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025
  • These networks are unreliable in cities and prone to delays.
    — Missy Cummings, IEEE Spectrum, 2 Mar. 2026
  • But the company does not use fact-checks to keep ads off of pages with unreliable or harmful claims.
    — Craig Silverman, ProPublica, 29 Oct. 2022
  • After all, nobody wants to be in the car with an unreliable driver.
    — CNBC, 17 Oct. 2025
  • The problem, the researchers said, is that many of those projects are unreliable and overpromise.
    — Nicole Goodkind, Fortune, 7 Feb. 2022
  • These new children’s books with unreliable narrators let kids in on the joke.
    — David Remnick, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
  • The Rorschach inkblot test took a direct hit as largely unreliable.
    — Benedict Carey, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2020
  • One of the most common is that the output of these systems is simply unreliable.
    — James Vincent, The Verge, 5 Jan. 2023
  • Someone who has been bitten may not have seen the assailant, or may be an unreliable witness.
    — The Economist, 30 Dec. 2020
  • Regardless, the ground game has been unreliable, to put it nicely.
    — Alec Lewis, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
  • This would not be the first time unreliable AI systems have been used in warfare.
    — Parmy Olson, Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2026
  • Hotel lighting can be a bit unreliable, which is where this Pursen mirror case earns its keep.
    — Chaise Sanders, Travel + Leisure, 3 May 2026
  • Keep in mind that cell service is unreliable in parts of the park, so going in with a plan—and a backup plan—will serve you well.
    — Maryam Siddiqi, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2026
  • Much of what the two men say about what’s happening in the rest of their lives is unreliable, based in fantasy or in lies.
    — Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2022
  • Crosstown transit involves a slow, unreliable bus ride.
    — Gustavo Rivera, New York Daily News, 10 Mar. 2026
  • This does not make AI unreliable by default.
    — Prasad Maderamitla, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
  • But telling the world’s poor to live with unreliable, expensive, weak power is an insult.
    — Bjorn Lomborg, Forbes, 10 Nov. 2022
  • The bloodline can be an unreliable thing, and cruel sometimes.
    — Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 29 Feb. 2024
  • Having an unreliable kicking unit is an odd spot for the Broncos.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Hungary has been told for years that Moscow is an unreliable partner.
    — Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Aug. 2025
  • And now the model those dollars were built on is becoming unreliable.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 25 Apr. 2026
  • Both movies open on a death — one real, the other a hoax — and seek to take us back through time with the aid of an unreliable narrator.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 7 Mar. 2023
  • But the game’s use of these gestures felt awkward and unreliable, and the experience was short and on-rails.
    — Adi Robertson, The Verge, 27 Sep. 2023
  • Is Demko too unreliable with his health that his cap hit would be better spent upgrading the forward group?
    — Harman Dayal, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2025
  • They are left with one slow and unreliable train a day between Springfield and Boston.
    — Tom Condon, courant.com, 6 Sep. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unreliable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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