vagary - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: vagary

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

va·gar·y

Audio Help [vuh-gair-ee, vey-guh-ree] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -gar·ies.

1.	an unpredictable or erratic action, occurrence, course, or instance: the vagaries of weather; the vagaries of the economic scene.

2.	a whimsical, wild, or unusual idea, desire, or action.

[Origin: 1565–75, in sense “wandering journey”; appar. < L vagārī to wander

]

—Synonyms 2. caprice, whim, quirk, crotchet.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
vagary

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

va·ga·ry Audio Help (vā'gə-rē, və-gâr'ē) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. va·ga·ries
An extravagant or erratic notion or action.

[From Latin vagārī, to wander, from vagus, wandering.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
vagary

1577, "a wandering, a roaming journey," probably from L. vagari "to wander, roam, be unsettled, spread abroad" from vagus "roving, wandering" (see vague). Current meaning of "eccentric notion or conduct" (1629) is from notion of mental wandering.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

vagary
noun
an unexpected and inexplicable change in something (in a situation or a person's behavior, etc.); "the vagaries of the weather"; "his wealth fluctuates with the vagaries of the stock market"; "he has dealt with human vagaries for many years"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Vagary

Di`va*ga"tion\, n. [L. divagari to wander about; di- = dis- + vagari to stroll about: cf. F. divagation. See Vagary.] A wandering about or going astray; digression.

Let us be set down at Queen's Crawley without further divagation. --Thackeray.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

vagary

vagary was Word of the Day on March 24, 2001.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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