whim
/wɪm
/noun
1A sudden desire or change of mind, especially one that is unusual or unexplained: she bought it on a whim [mass noun]: he appeared and disappeared at whim...
- Apparently on a whim, Wonka suddenly decides to reopen his doors to five children.
- She did it on a whim when the opportunity presented itself, and she died four days later.
- He opened the door on a whim, expecting nothing, but instead, he was faced with four sets of eyes.
Synonyms
impulse, urge, notion, fancy, whimsy, foible, idea, caprice, conceit, vagary, kink, megrim, crotchet, craze, fad, passion, inclination, bent
archaic freak, maggot, humour, whim-wham
capriciousness, whimsy, caprice, volatility, fickleness, idiosyncrasy, eccentricity, unpredictability
2 archaic A windlass for raising ore or water from a mine.Work was soon hampered by an inflow of large volumes of underground water in several shafts, keeping the whims occupied day and night.
Origin
Late 17th century: of unknown origin. sense 2 (mid 18th century) is a transferred use.