capricious
Americanadjective
Related Words
See fickle.
Other Word Forms
- capriciously adverb
- capriciousness noun
- noncapricious adjective
- noncapriciously adverb
- uncapricious adjective
- uncapriciously adverb
Etymology
Origin of capricious
First recorded in 1585–95; from French capricieux, from Italian capriccioso capriccioso
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.
The venture's legal brief described the suspension order as "arbitrary and capricious."
From Barron's
Young ruled the cuts were “arbitrary and capricious” and therefore illegal.
From Los Angeles Times
What will June bring at the venerable but capricious Long Island venue?
From BBC
Such arrests appear arbitrary and capricious, and are unlikely to survive scrutiny by the courts, Judge Pitts ruled Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times
“What else could defendants’ decisions to cut funding to specific counterterrorism programming by conspicuous round numbered amounts — including by slashing off the millions-place digits of awarded sums — be if not arbitrary and capricious?”
From Salon
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.
