| Library / English Dictionary |
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:
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:
Similar:
unpredictable (not capable of being foretold)
Derivation:
capriciousness (the quality of being guided by sudden unpredictable impulses)
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.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
