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capricious

adjective

Synonyms and Antonyms of capricious

1 likely to change frequently, suddenly, or unexpectedly

  • capricious weather that was balmy one day and freezing cold the next
Synonyms of capricious

changeable, changeful, fickle, flickery, fluctuating, fluid, inconsistent, inconstant, mercurial, mutable, skittish, temperamental, uncertain, unpredictable, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, variable, volatile
Words Related to capricious

aimless, arbitrary, desultory, erratic, haphazard, hit-or-miss, irregular, random, scattered, slapdash, stray

ambivalent, hesitating, shaky, shilly-shally, shilly-shallying, vacillating, wavering

dicey, undependable, unreliable, untrustworthy

adaptable, mobile, protean, versatile
Phrases Synonymous with capricious

up in the air
Near Antonyms of capricious

equable, even, uniform

abiding, durable, lasting, permanent, persistent

dependable, reliable, sure, tried, tried-and-true, true, trustworthy, trusty
Antonyms of capricious

certain, changeless, constant, immutable, invariable, predictable, settled, stable, stationary, steady, unchangeable, unchanging, unvarying

2 prone to sudden illogical changes of mind, ideas, or actions

  • a capricious woman who changed her mind dozens of times about what color to paint the bathroom
Synonyms of capricious

freakish, impulsive, whimsical
Words Related to capricious

impetuous, mercurial, moody, temperamental, volatile

crankish, eccentric, flaky, quirky

arbitrary, erratic, fickle, inconstant, irregular, shaky, willful (or wilful)

impractical, quixotic, quixotical, romantic, unrealistic, utopian, visionary
Near Antonyms of capricious

equable

down-to-earth, earthy, hard-boiled, hardheaded, levelheaded, matter-of-fact, practical, pragmatic (also pragmatical), reasonable, sensible, tough-minded

commonsensical, grounded, logical, no-nonsense, rational, sane, sober, sobersided, sound

fast, fixed, hard-and-fast, immutable, inflexible, invariable, unalterable, unbending, unchangeable, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding

changeless, constant, established, set, settled, stable, steadfast, steady, unchanging, unvarying

Synonym Discussion of capricious

inconstant, fickle, capricious, mercurial, unstable mean lacking firmness or steadiness (as in purpose or devotion). inconstant implies an incapacity for steadiness and an inherent tendency to change.
    • an inconstant friend
fickle suggests unreliability because of perverse changeability and incapacity for steadfastness.
    • performers discover how fickle fans can be
capricious suggests motivation by sudden whim or fancy and stresses unpredictability.
    • an utterly capricious critic
mercurial implies a rapid changeability in mood.
    • made anxious by her boss's mercurial temperament
unstable implies an incapacity for remaining in a fixed position or steady course and applies especially to a lack of emotional balance.
    • too unstable to hold a job

Learn More about capricious

  1. See words that rhyme with capricious Dictionary: Definition of capricious Spanish Central: Translation of capricious Nglish: Translation of capricious for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of capricious for Arabic speakers

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