CAPRICIOUS

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason

Example:

the victim of whimsical persecutions

Synonyms:

capricious; impulsive; whimsical

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

arbitrary (based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice)

Derivation:

caprice (a sudden desire)

capriciousness (the trait of acting unpredictably and more from whim or caprice than from reason or judgment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Changeable

Example:

freakish weather

Synonyms:

capricious; freakish

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

unpredictable (not capable of being foretold)

Derivation:

capriciousness (the quality of being guided by sudden unpredictable impulses)

Credits

Context examples:

I remember her as a slim young woman, with black hair, dark eyes, very nice features, and good, clear complexion; but she had a capricious and hasty temper, and indifferent ideas of principle or justice: still, such as she was, I preferred her to any one else at Gateshead Hall.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

For a little while you will perhaps be as you are now,—a very little while; and then you will turn cool; and then you will be capricious; and then you will be stern, and I shall have much ado to please you: but when you get well used to me, you will perhaps like me again,—like me, I say, not love me.