as in notion
a sudden impulsive and apparently unmotivated idea or action
on a whim, we stopped at the roadside stand to get ice cream
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of whim
But no overhaul is forthcoming, leaving the CIA and its peers vulnerable to Trump’s demagoguery, and Americans vulnerable to the whims of a surveillance state.
—
James Santel, The Atlantic, 8 May 2025
Individuals are stripped of their dignity and sorted according to the whims of the social justice plan.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 8 May 2025
Nations with central banks that move interest rates at the whim of politicians tend to have inflation spikes and other economic troubles, experts have noted.
—Anne Marie D. Lee, CBS News, 8 May 2025
Idles’s songs explicate the social and moral turmoil that youthful protesters can’t put into words, but the band’s energetic live performances and enthusiastic crowds make sense of what otherwise look like ideological whims.
—Armond White, National Review, 7 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for whim
James Santel, The Atlantic, 8 May 2025
Individuals are stripped of their dignity and sorted according to the whims of the social justice plan.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 8 May 2025
Nations with central banks that move interest rates at the whim of politicians tend to have inflation spikes and other economic troubles, experts have noted.
—Anne Marie D. Lee, CBS News, 8 May 2025
Idles’s songs explicate the social and moral turmoil that youthful protesters can’t put into words, but the band’s energetic live performances and enthusiastic crowds make sense of what otherwise look like ideological whims.
—Armond White, National Review, 7 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for whim
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whim
Noun
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This perhaps more than anything else puts the lie to the notion that the administration wants people to follow the law.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
23 May 2025
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But if done right, the notion of the Chicago Bears of Arlington Heights isn’t worth a rise in our collective blood pressure.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
22 May 2025
Noun
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Trump ran as a populist, but his actions in office have built a new élite shaped by his personal preference and caprice.—
Nathan Heller,
New Yorker,
9 Apr. 2025
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Fear of political caprice masquerading as strategy, of a trade war metastasizing into financial contagion, and of a world where traditional safe havens—currencies, institutions, alliances—no longer offer much safety at all.—
Mohammed Soliman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Pope Leo's Style of American Leadership Is a Hopeful Opportunity This body of thought, which had its most notable appearance in his 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, introduced the world to a new approach to the social, economic, and political challenges of the day.—
Time,
Time,
29 May 2025
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And, of course, doing all these things in the presence of clients just shows a complete lack of rational thought.—
Joe Cermele,
Outdoor Life,
29 May 2025
Noun
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Vape shops have spread across the American retail landscape with a bizarre swiftness, seemingly unbeholden to the same vagaries of inflation, customer demand, and local real estate that bind every other kind of storefront small business in the country.—
Amanda Mull,
The Atlantic,
22 June 2023
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Third, repeaters should prove capable of swapping this data between nodes in a network in a predictable way and not one too subject to the vagaries of chance.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
13 June 2023
Noun
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Don’t worry, in this fantasy relationship Briney’s character Conrad is all yours, no messy love triangle!—
Ana Calderone,
People.com,
25 May 2025
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The law that fantasy football supposedly broke was the prohibition on gambling on sporting events, a line that was blurred by fantasy leagues’ use of cash entries and prizes.—
David Hill,
Rolling Stone,
24 May 2025
Noun
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Coach, too, didn’t shy away from a little footwear playfulness at New York Fashion Week last year, for which the brand’s Soho Sneaker was introduced to childlike whimsy — by way of prominent charms taking up prime real estate on the shoe’s upper and, understandably, attracting all the attention.—
Stacia Datskovska,
Footwear News,
29 May 2025
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Affirmation, though, Kore-eda would warn, is not an affect of whimsy, it must be aged and earned, not wished or projected.—
Ritesh Mehta,
IndieWire,
20 May 2025
Noun
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Orangeburg, South Carolina — New York native Linwood Riddick could have spent his golden years in Summerville, South Carolina, tickling the ivories or whatever else tickled his fancy.—
Steve Hartman,
CBS News,
23 May 2025
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Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar’s new Hindi web series The Royals has caught the fancy of cinephiles worldwide.—
Sweta Kaushal,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whim.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whim. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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