caprice

American  

[kuh-prees] / kəˈpris /

noun

1. a sudden, unpredictable change, as of one's mind or the weather.

   Synonyms:

   fancy, whim, notion, vagary

2. a tendency to change one's mind without apparent or adequate motive; whimsicality; capriciousness.

   With the caprice of a despotic king, he alternated between kindness and cruelty.

3. Music. capriccio.

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caprice British  

/ kəˈpriːs /

noun

1. a sudden or unpredictable change of attitude, behaviour, etc; whim

2. a tendency to such changes

3. another word for capriccio

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Etymology

Origin of caprice

First recorded in 1660–70; from French, from Italian; capriccio

Example Sentences

But we live now at the intersection of presidential instinct and personal caprice.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025

“Marie-Jeanne became a way to think about the private Fanon,” Shatz said, “his vanity and contradictions, his caprice and his warmth. I felt that through her I could offer a more humane portrait.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2024

It told the BBC that COP presidents are "expected to act without bias, prejudice, favouritism, caprice, self-interest, preference or deference, strictly based on sound, independent and fair judgement".

From BBC • Nov. 27, 2023

It wasn’t “if” early America would fall back under tyranny, the lawless caprice of monarchy, but when.

From Salon • Nov. 24, 2023

One newspaper editor had sagely, if cynically, observed that “the usual custom is for the capital of new empires to be selected by the whim or caprice of a despot.”

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis