Skip to main content
whim

whim

94 4.2
A sudden, unplanned want to do something for no clear reason
  • noun
  • /wɪm/
translation icon : capricho
  • I cannot allow you to take a talent... a gift to which you have dedicated so much time and effort and throw it away on a whim.
  • wishes and whims
  • according to whim
  • subject to whims

But the asking isn't a whim or or today's wish.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I took back everything bought on a whim; I'd have no business.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Do I wanna follow my every whim and desire as I make my way through time and space?

  • I would have said yes to every crazy little whim you had.

  • I have been more than patient with this little whim of yours.

  • The question is whose whim will dominate?

  • Your family indulged your every whim.

  • If this quilt thing is just a whim for today, please think carefully and decide now.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • It's the sort of foolish whim your Majesty's family is famous for.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Sometimes the singers were arrested, sometimes not, depending upon the whim of the local rulers and the municipal constabulary.

    Academic text (1994)
  • She decided on a whim to take a spontaneous trip to the beach.

Synonyms

notion
vswhim
653 3.7

An idea or wish to do something, often sudden

is sudden and unpredictable rather than a stable belief or opinion
impulse
vswhim
185 3.6

A sudden strong want to do something without thinking

is a sudden desire or idea that is usually less forceful
caprice
vswhim
5 8.5

A sudden desire to do something without a clear reason

is a sudden desire or idea not tied to mood changes

Antonyms

77 3.2

The state of things or actions being the same and in agreement

55 3.3

Deciding firmly what to do

Idioms

24 5.8

To do something suddenly without planning

How Strong

compulsion
40 6.7
urge
223 3.2
whim
94 4.2
idea
1.0

Surface Forms

whim singular
whims plural

Etymology

The word whim probably comes from the old playful word whim-wham, which meant 'a little odd thing'. You can see the same idea in whimsy, and that's why a whim is a sudden, small, often silly desire or idea.