noun
caprice
kuh-PREES/kəˈpriːs/
A sudden, unpredictable change of mood or preference.
A sudden caprice makes the customer reject the blue hat for the red one.
Etymology
Italian capriccio meant “whim” and originally “a shivering,” though its deeper origin is uncertain. English preserves the mental sense: a sudden change of mind without an apparent motive.
In context
For days at a time he doesn’t speak to her; doesn’t even see her. And all for nothing! He took her up in a caprice, and he’s dropped her in another caprice.
More examples
- The schedule changes with the manager's every caprice.
- She refuses to gamble her savings on a passing caprice.
- The story follows the ruler's unpredictable caprices.
Forms
caprice · caprices
Similar words
- whim
- A sudden desire, often relatively harmless or fleeting.
- impulse
- An immediate urge to act, not necessarily a changing preference.