whimsical

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There had been more singing by Mrs. Detlor. She ransacked her memory for half remembered melodies--whimsical, arcadian, sad--and Hagar sat watching her, outwardly quiet and appreciative, inwardly under an influence like none he had ever felt before.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Determined by, arising from, or marked by whim or caprice. See Synonyms at arbitrary.
  2. adjective Erratic in behavior or degree of unpredictability: a whimsical personality.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

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

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Examples (50)

  • The prose is simple and lovely, the subject matter both dark and whimsical (sometimes whimsically dark, other times darkly whimsical--you get the idea). —  F ;SF; - vol 104 issue 02 - February 2003
  • Sterne's chosen province was the whimsical, and his great model was Rabelais. —  Brief History of English and American Literature
  • There had been more singing by Mrs. Detlor. She ransacked her memory for half remembered melodies--whimsical, arcadian, sad--and Hagar sat watching her, outwardly quiet and appreciative, inwardly under an influence like none he had ever felt before. —  An Unpardonable Liar
  • He had never had any kind of sympathy for the whimsical, and it is a manner that is apt to look inane and ridiculous under certain kinds of censure. —  The Jervaise Comedy
  • It was just as if I saw her with that half-whimsical, half-reproachful expression in her eyes, holding up her finger at me. —  Mr. Crewe's Career — Complete
 

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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

childish ·  humorous ·  capricious ·  bizarre ·  playful ·  fantastic ·  ludicrous ·  quaint ·  foolish ·  eccentric ·  witty ·  romantic
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.
 

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/ˈhwɪmzɪkəl/
by American Heritage

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