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View synonyms for capricious

capricious

[ kuh-prish-uhs, -pree-shuhs ]

adjective

  1. subject to, led by, or indicative of a sudden, odd notion or unpredictable change; erratic:

    He's such a capricious boss I never know how he'll react.

    Synonyms: mercurial, flighty, variable

    Antonyms: consistent, constant, steady

  2. Obsolete. fanciful or witty.


capricious

/ kəˈprɪʃəs /

adjective

  1. characterized by or liable to sudden unpredictable changes in attitude or behaviour; impulsive; fickle
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • caˈpriciousness, noun
  • caˈpriciously, adverb
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Other Words From

  • ca·pri·cious·ly adverb
  • ca·pri·cious·ness noun
  • non·ca·pri·cious adjective
  • non·ca·pri·cious·ly adverb
  • un·ca·pri·cious adjective
  • un·ca·pri·cious·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of capricious1

First recorded in 1585–95; from French capricieux, from Italian capriccioso capriccioso
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Synonym Study

See fickle.
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Example Sentences

Like every other capricious pillar of global capital in the world, the IOC insists that their giant money-printing operation is actually a bringer of peace and progress—a harbor for an open world that spreads democracy far and wide.

They’re at the mercy of policy-making and enforcement which can seem capricious or even be downright mystifying.

Since 1971, the capricious and excessive use of solitary confinement has only intensified in America’s prisons.

From Time

As the action accelerates, Marsac — at times a bit slow on the uptake — keeps wondering about the capricious, headstrong and infuriating Mademoiselle de la Vire.

He maintained that the first allegiance of a Catholic was to the example of Christ, not to the church’s hierarchy and what he considered its capricious and outmoded rules.

The list is as capricious—its bounds known only to its mysterious conceivers—as it is precise.

But that visceral experience of the crowd as a capricious-yet-mindless entity has stayed with me ever since.

He plays Wallace, a twentysomething medical school dropout who falls for Chantry (Zoe Kazan), a capricious animator/artist.

The capricious and inhumane imprisoning of the feminist activists from Pussy Riot.

We remain constantly curious about what great designers will turn out from their capricious artistic alchemy.

The nose more particularly appears and disappears in a capricious way in the drawings of the same child.

But this sudden blow was a reminder that fate had been capricious to spoiled darlings before.

Mariamne had grown more fantastic, and capricious, and wayward than ever.

There was also a moral reaction, and the boy became capricious, irritable, and unlike his former self.

No, give me deserts or precipices,—anything fixed and solid is better than this capricious, ever-changing sea.

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capricecapriciousness