noun
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a sudden, passing, and often fanciful idea; impulsive or irrational thought
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a horse-drawn winch formerly used in mining to lift ore or water
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of whim
First recorded in 1635–45; short for whim-wham
Explanation
A whim is an odd or fanciful idea, something kooky you suddenly decide to do, like dress up like a chicken or drive to Vegas. A whim can be a sudden impulse or a change of mind, like if you go shopping for school clothes but instead buy a pink cowboy hat. Whim is a shortened version of the equally silly sounding whim wham which means "fanciful object," like a tiny snow globe that plays "Hava Nagila." If you go for a drive on a whim, you could wind up anywhere, perhaps even back to the store to return that snow globe.
Vocabulary lists containing whim
List 6
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Wonder
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It means they can catch casual shoppers who "pop their head around the door" and decide on a whim to get their child vaccinated.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Institutional judgment becomes meaningless when operational directives can be rewritten on a whim overnight.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
Keep some in the freezer to remake this salad on a whim all summer long.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
Since then, Congress has created dozens of agencies whose leaders could not be terminated at the White House’s whim.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
As if it was trivial for us, a frill, a whim.
From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
The bill would also establish clear market structure rules that provide regulatory certainty for investors and banks so they don’t have to worry about being whipsawed by the whims of a future administration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Naomi was accustomed to Lisa-Kaindé’s whims long before they became professional artists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
It’s just the latest sign that the launch of a whole ecosystem of ETFs has done little to buttress bitcoin against the whims of mercurial investors.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Is he guided by consistent principles, or by the whims of the moment?
From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026
“This is my five weeks and I shall live them to the end as my whims dictate. I may come home, not by Buffalo, but by Timbuctoo! Who knows?”
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
