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whim
Use
Whim
in a sentence
whim
/
ʰwɪm, wɪm
/
Show Spelled
[
hwim, wim
]
Show IPA
noun
1.
an odd or capricious notion or desire; a sudden or freakish fancy:
a sudden whim to take a midnight walk.
2.
capricious humor:
to be swayed by whim.
Origin:
1635–45;
short for
whim-wham
Synonyms
1.
whimsy, vagary, caprice.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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whim
Collins
World English Dictionary
whim
(wɪm)
—
n
1.
a sudden, passing, and often fanciful idea; impulsive or irrational thought
2.
a horse-drawn winch formerly used in mining to lift ore or water
[C17: from
whim-wham
]
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Relevant Questions
What Is Whim·per?
What Is Whim·brel?
What Is Whim·sy?
What Is Whim·per?
What Is Whim·sy?
What Is Whim·brel?
00:10
Whim
is always a great word to know.
So is
callithumpian
. Does it mean:
So is
quincunx
. Does it mean:
So is
lollapalooza
. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
whim
1641, "pun or play on words," shortened from
whimwham
"fanciful object" (q.v.). Meaning "sudden notion, fancy, or idea" first recorded 1697, probably a shortened form of
whimsy
.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Example sentences
The difference between a brilliant idea and an utter failure is that squishiest
benchmark in business: the
whim
of customers.
The screen orientation switches between landscape and portrait on a
whim
.
Salaries aren't decided on the
whim
of department chairs.
Moreover, there is always a danger that freedoms extended at the
whim
of a
ruler can be withdrawn.
Pique and
whim
should not be the governing principles of campus life.
As new words were borrowed from different languages, they were spelled according to the
whim
of the individual writer or printer.
The courts should not be expected to change the law to suit the
whim
of some otherwise out of work lab workers.
Faces are rarely true to any ideal type, but are a record in sculpture of a thousand anecdotes of
whim
and folly.
They lure you in with good rates and then raise them on a
whim
.
Creatures like jellyfish lack their own way to get around and are mostly left to the
whim
of the wind and currents.
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Matching Quote
"The terrible tabulation of the French statists brings every piece of
whim
and humor to be reducible also to exact numerical ratios. If one man in twenty thousand, or in thirty thousand, eats shoes, or marries his grandmother, then, in every twenty thousand, or thirty thousand, is found one man who eats shoes, or marries his grandmother."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Synonyms
disposition
inclination
caprice
thought
impulse
conceit
fantasy
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