1
: a capricious or eccentric and often sudden idea or turn of the mind : fancy
quit his job on a whim
2
: a large capstan that is made with one or more radiating arms to which a horse may be yoked and that is used in mines for raising ore or water
Examples of whim in a Sentence
It's hard to predict voters' whims.
on a whim, we stopped at the roadside stand to get ice cream
Recent Examples on the Web
Yet, how can true agility be achieved when the very tools and platforms meant to empower us simultaneously bind us to the whims of a select few?
—
Rajat Bhargava, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025
The health and safety of our communities should not hang on the whim of a political ideologue.
—Jesse Edwards, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 July 2025
The president’s tariff plan has been a hot-button issue in Washington and on Wall Street, with politicians at odds over the effectiveness of the strategy and markets moving at the whims of the trade decisions.
—Mychael Schnell, The Hill, 14 July 2025
Graydon, always an aesthete, got the budget to indulge his more fanciful whims.
—Michael Grynbaum, HollywoodReporter, 14 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for whim
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Rajat Bhargava, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025
The health and safety of our communities should not hang on the whim of a political ideologue.
—Jesse Edwards, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 July 2025
The president’s tariff plan has been a hot-button issue in Washington and on Wall Street, with politicians at odds over the effectiveness of the strategy and markets moving at the whims of the trade decisions.
—Mychael Schnell, The Hill, 14 July 2025
Graydon, always an aesthete, got the budget to indulge his more fanciful whims.
—Michael Grynbaum, HollywoodReporter, 14 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for whim
Cite this Entry
“Whim.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whim. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
whim
noun
ˈhwim 
ˈwim
: an odd or sudden wish, desire, or change of mind
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