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
Synonyms
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
Now the American public is at the whims of the administration’s promises.
—
Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2025
Logging and development projects are at the whim of market pressures and politics.
—Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2025
The big picture: President Trump's track record of sudden policy about-faces and unpredictable lurches governed by whim and self-interest puts CEOs in a defensive crouch.
—Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 22 Jan. 2025
Lawmakers fear TikTok's owner ByteDance could be manipulated by the Chinese government — exposing Americans' data and content feeds to the whims of an adversarial regime.
—Bobby Allyn, NPR, 18 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for whim 
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Nicholas Florko, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2025
Logging and development projects are at the whim of market pressures and politics.
—Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2025
The big picture: President Trump's track record of sudden policy about-faces and unpredictable lurches governed by whim and self-interest puts CEOs in a defensive crouch.
—Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 22 Jan. 2025
Lawmakers fear TikTok's owner ByteDance could be manipulated by the Chinese government — exposing Americans' data and content feeds to the whims of an adversarial regime.
—Bobby Allyn, NPR, 18 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for whim
Dictionary Entries Near whim
Cite this Entry
“Whim.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whim. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.
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whim
noun
ˈhwim 
ˈwim
: an odd or sudden wish, desire, or change of mind
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