vagarious
Americanadjective
-
characterized by vagaries; erratic; capricious.
a vagarious foreign policy.
-
roving; wandering.
vagarious artists.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- vagariously adverb
Etymology
Origin of vagarious
Explanation
Some people are vagarious, always changing their mind about things or making snap decisions based on whim instead of reason or sound judgment. You never know what to expect from a vagarious person! Vagarious is an adjective related to the noun vagary, meaning "a random or unpredictable change." The root of both words is the Latin word vagari, meaning "wander." A person who wanders from a straightforward path is one who unexpectedly veers off on random side paths, ending up at destinations you couldn't foresee. It's the same way with someone who is vagarious in thought or behavior. Weather can be vagarious, too, and so can the economy. Both make planning difficult!
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.
It is a troubling state of affairs indeed if the vagarious interests of one federal prosecutor, acting outside of public view, can determine so much about an individual’s future.
From Salon • Jan. 16, 2013
Bozzy's vagarious search for a wife, described in the previous volume, has succeeded, and for the moment at least he is well-behaved.
From Time Magazine Archive
This may be a whimsical conclusion to the study of a personality so perplexing and vagarious as Sir John Willison.
From The Masques of Ottawa by Bridle, Augustus
There are certain stars that have such irregular, uncertain, vagarious ways that they were called vagabonds, or planets, by the early astronomers.
From Recreations in Astronomy With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic Work by Warren, Henry White
It would not do to be vagarious under such a shrewd examination; he must be exact.
From Over the Pass by Palmer, Frederick
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.
