caprice

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It happened that this caprice was a favourite of the young violinist, who had learned it by heart.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun An impulsive change of mind.
  2. noun An inclination to change one's mind impulsively.
  3. noun A sudden, unpredictable action, change, or series of actions or changes: A hailstorm in July is a caprice of nature.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Toward the canal the palace windows had been immemorially bricked up for some reason or caprice, and no morning sunlight, save such as shone from the bright eyes of the Paronsina, ever looked into the dim halls. —  A Fearful Responsibility and Other Stories
  • It takes many a day to recall that fierce caprice, as of an Oriental despot, with which he watches the tiger-fights of ideas, and strikes off periods, as the tyrant strikes off heads And while no other art commands so universal homage, no other is so purely artificial, so absolutely unsymbolical. —  The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864
  • She encouraged me only for a caprice, and now sacrifices me to a new one It was at this moment that the jewelers presented themselves. —  The Queen's Necklace
  • All his women are made up of mingled tenderness and caprice, and though female critics of his work may claim that these traits are over-drawn, no man ever feels like dissecting Hardy's women, for the reason that they are so charmingly feminine One may fancy that Hardy took great delight in his architectural work, for it required many excursions to old churches in Dorsetshire to see whether they were worth restoring. —  Modern English Books of Power
  • For her to tear her hats to pieces and cut her dress or apron in shreds because they did not suit her was a frequent caprice, and one we had all laughed at again and again--except Jack, who was thrifty by nature and respected the worth of things like a sensible economist. —  Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878.
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

whim ·  folly ·  vanity ·  malice ·  extravagance ·  cruelty ·  avarice ·  conceit ·  insolence ·  egotism ·  jealousy ·  greed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Italian capriccio, from caporiccio, fright, sudden start : capo, head (from Latin caput; see kaput- in Indo-European roots) + riccio, curly (from Latin ēricius, hedgehog, from ēr).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also capriche, capritch, and caprichio, capriccio, after Italian; from French caprice, from Italian capriccio = Spanish Portuguese capricho, a caprice, whim; of disputed origin; usually, but without sufficient evidence, derived from Italian caprio, a goat (as if orig. ‘a goat-leap’). Cf. caper and capriole.
 

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/kəˈpris/
by American Heritage

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