as in notions
a sudden impulsive and apparently unmotivated idea or action
on a whim, we stopped at the roadside stand to get ice cream
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Recent Examples of whims
The other flavors will be up to his weekly whims.
—
Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026
The league has conformed to The King’s whims.
—John Hollinger, New York Times, 15 May 2026
By their very nature, pop-ups are fluid and subject to the whims of weather.
—Sam Flemming, AJC.com, 14 May 2026
Bison—survivors of ice ages and near extinction, to later become our national animal—wander freely at the whims of the matriarch cow bison that lead the cow-calf groups.
—Robert Annis, Midwest Living, 14 May 2026
This will take place while protecting your funds from the whims of the market, too.
—Matt Richardson, CBS News, 14 May 2026
For anyone who’s ever fantasized about riding horseback on a beach with a salty breeze blowing in the air, this is the place to satisfy your wildest whims.
—Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 11 May 2026
In 1922, Reverend Bowler took to the pages of the national Chicago Defender to advise Black passengers to leave nothing to chance or the whims of railroad employees or law enforcement when traveling the rails.
—Literary Hub, 11 May 2026
Washington was never meant to be an anthology of presidential whims.
—Israel Melendez Ayala, Time, 6 May 2026
Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026
The league has conformed to The King’s whims.
—John Hollinger, New York Times, 15 May 2026
By their very nature, pop-ups are fluid and subject to the whims of weather.
—Sam Flemming, AJC.com, 14 May 2026
Bison—survivors of ice ages and near extinction, to later become our national animal—wander freely at the whims of the matriarch cow bison that lead the cow-calf groups.
—Robert Annis, Midwest Living, 14 May 2026
This will take place while protecting your funds from the whims of the market, too.
—Matt Richardson, CBS News, 14 May 2026
For anyone who’s ever fantasized about riding horseback on a beach with a salty breeze blowing in the air, this is the place to satisfy your wildest whims.
—Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 11 May 2026
In 1922, Reverend Bowler took to the pages of the national Chicago Defender to advise Black passengers to leave nothing to chance or the whims of railroad employees or law enforcement when traveling the rails.
—Literary Hub, 11 May 2026
Washington was never meant to be an anthology of presidential whims.
—Israel Melendez Ayala, Time, 6 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whims
Noun
-
Atlanta — Going into retirement, 58-year-old David White of Atlanta, Georgia, had some preconceived notions.—
Steve Hartman,
CBS News,
16 May 2026
-
With a cast drawn from comedy-scene friends such as Kate Berlant and Conner O’Malley all tuned into a very specific wavelength, the movie somehow surpasses conventional notions of camp and irony to exist in a genuinely unique space all its own.—
Tracy Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
One needed Mother Nature to bestow upon brewers the right temperatures for making beer, and in the days before refrigeration and even thermometers, that meant that brewing was largely dictated by the caprices of the seasons.—
Jay R. Brooks,
Mercury News,
27 Feb. 2026
-
Today, every country’s economy is tied to others, but a small nation that’s as historically dependent on trade as Denmark seems particularly vulnerable to Trump’s caprices.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
There were plenty of ordinary and dismissive explanations for what had happened, all related to the vagaries of the brain.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
-
As a result, those close to him have felt that there have been some vagaries around his role within the team since his arrival.—
Cerys Jones,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
While Goodman’s paradoxes and fantasies posed challenges to me as her biographer, with the advent of AI slop and ChatGPT, our courtship with illusion (and possibly delusion) is here to stay.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
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Known for its signature vibrant psychedelic prints, the designs are summer personified, enticing fans with fantasies of wearing them by the pool, Aperol spritz in hand.—
Diana Tsui,
Footwear News,
13 May 2026
Noun
-
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Stephanie also has a story on the whimsies created by chocolate artist Chris Ford at his West Hollywood pop-up shop.—
Bill Addison,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Feb. 2026
-
In The Girlfriend, the truth is malleable, open to change based on our biases, judgments, whimsies, and desires.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whims.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whims. Accessed 19 May. 2026.
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