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whim

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whim¹

  • /wɪm/
  • /ʍɪm/

Rhymes with -ɪm

Where it comes from

Clipping of whim-wham.

noun whims

  1. countable, uncountable A fanciful impulse, or sudden change of idea. Let ev’ry Man enjoy his whim; / What’s He to Me, or I to him?

    Similar: lark

  2. countable, uncountable A large capstan or vertical drum turned by horse power or steam power, for raising ore or water, etc., from mines, or for other purposes.

Similar: boutade, caprice, capriccio, conceit, crotchet, delirament, fancy, fangle, figary, flisk, freak, kink, lark, maggot, megrim, spleen, toy, vagary, whim, whim-wham, whimsy

verb whims · whimming · whimmed

  1. intransitive, rare To be seized with a whim; to be capricious.

whim²

  • /wɪm/
  • /ʍɪm/

Rhymes with -ɪm

Where it comes from

Compare whimbrel.

noun whims

  1. A bird, the Eurasian wigeon.

Similar: boutade, caprice, capriccio, conceit, crotchet, delirament, fancy, fangle, figary, flisk, freak, kink, lark, maggot, megrim, spleen, toy, vagary, whim, whim-wham, whimsy

WHIM³

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism, uncountable Initialism of warm-hot intergalactic medium

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: whimsey, whimsy, caprice, vagary, impulse, notion, humour, drivel, game, mania, quirk, pleasure, infatuation, fancy, fad, arbitrariness

noun

Similar: boutade, caprice, capriccio, conceit, crotchet, delirament, fancy, fangle, figary, flisk, freak, kink, lark, maggot, megrim, spleen, toy, vagary, whim, whim-wham, whimsy

noun

Similar: boutade, caprice, capriccio, conceit, crotchet, delirament, fancy, fangle, figary, flisk, freak, kink, lark, maggot, megrim, spleen, toy, vagary, whim, whim-wham, whimsy

Translations

Every language

noun fanciful impulse

Españolcapricho, ventolera, antojo
한국어변덕 byeondeok
日本語気紛れ kimagure, 移り気 utsurigi
中文怪念頭 /怪念头 guàiniàntóu, 奇想 qíxiǎng, 任性 rènxìng, 心血來潮 /心血来潮 xīnxuèláicháo
Portuguêsinspiração, capricho
Françaislubie, caprice
DeutschLaune, Grille, Marotte, Kaprize, Verrücktheit, wunderlicher Einfall
Italianocapriccio, ghiribizzo, fantasia, stravaganza, stranezza, griccio
Românăcapriciu, toană
Русскийкапри́з kapríz, при́хоть príxotʹ, блажь blažʹ, причу́да pričúda
العربيةنَزْوَة nazwa
עבריתגַּחֲמָה gakhamá

noun large capstan

DeutschGöpel

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Cite this
MLA

"whim." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/whim. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

whim. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/whim

Chicago

"whim." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/whim.

BibTeX
@misc{whim_2026,
  title = {whim},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/whim},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}