as in notions
a sudden impulsive and apparently unmotivated idea or action
on a whim, we stopped at the roadside stand to get ice cream
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Recent Examples of whims
Every deportation should be based on immigration law, not the whims of ICE nor those of the president.
—
Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 30 Mar. 2026
Uniting best practices in public health and offering further support and coordination to the community violence intervention community, an office would serve as a Chicago department with a set strategy that would not change according to political winds or mayoral whims.
—Michael Pfleger, Chicago Tribune, 29 Mar. 2026
In the fifth and final season of The Boys, premiering April 8 on Prime Video, the world completely subject to Homelander’s (Antony Starr) erratic, egomaniacal whims.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 28 Mar. 2026
Ranching on the borderlands of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico is seasoned with challenges arising from the whims of nature.
—Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 26 Mar. 2026
Yet if the denial of a driver’s license is based on such arbitrary factors as a victim’s advocacy, or a defendant’s remorse, or public opinion, or the whims of state bureaucrats, the results are inconsistent.
—Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Mar. 2026
Ostensibly an effort to recenter the female perspective in some of the most famous tales from the Book of Genesis, the three-part event miniseries instead treats its characters like paper dolls to be pushed around at the whims of a narrative set in stone millennia ago.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 22 Mar. 2026
There are precious few roads, and nothing is impervious to the whims of weather.
—Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 16 Mar. 2026
But Ederra and crew push their whims further.
—Stephen Kearse, Pitchfork, 11 Mar. 2026
Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 30 Mar. 2026
Uniting best practices in public health and offering further support and coordination to the community violence intervention community, an office would serve as a Chicago department with a set strategy that would not change according to political winds or mayoral whims.
—Michael Pfleger, Chicago Tribune, 29 Mar. 2026
In the fifth and final season of The Boys, premiering April 8 on Prime Video, the world completely subject to Homelander’s (Antony Starr) erratic, egomaniacal whims.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 28 Mar. 2026
Ranching on the borderlands of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico is seasoned with challenges arising from the whims of nature.
—Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 26 Mar. 2026
Yet if the denial of a driver’s license is based on such arbitrary factors as a victim’s advocacy, or a defendant’s remorse, or public opinion, or the whims of state bureaucrats, the results are inconsistent.
—Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Mar. 2026
Ostensibly an effort to recenter the female perspective in some of the most famous tales from the Book of Genesis, the three-part event miniseries instead treats its characters like paper dolls to be pushed around at the whims of a narrative set in stone millennia ago.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 22 Mar. 2026
There are precious few roads, and nothing is impervious to the whims of weather.
—Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 16 Mar. 2026
But Ederra and crew push their whims further.
—Stephen Kearse, Pitchfork, 11 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whims
Noun
-
Advice or even just notions—only check email after noon; never do 10 reps of crunches—solidify into absolutism or vanish.—
Ian Bogost,
The Atlantic,
31 Mar. 2026
-
For years, Ye had been obsessed with notions of Jewish villainy, while also identifying himself with Adolf Hitler and Nazis.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
One needed Mother Nature to bestow upon brewers the right temperatures for making beer, and in the days before refrigeration and even thermometers, that meant that brewing was largely dictated by the caprices of the seasons.—
Jay R. Brooks,
Mercury News,
27 Feb. 2026
-
Today, every country’s economy is tied to others, but a small nation that’s as historically dependent on trade as Denmark seems particularly vulnerable to Trump’s caprices.—
Margaret Talbot,
New Yorker,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
There were plenty of ordinary and dismissive explanations for what had happened, all related to the vagaries of the brain.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
-
As a result, those close to him have felt that there have been some vagaries around his role within the team since his arrival.—
Cerys Jones,
New York Times,
28 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Attempts to resolve ecological responsibility through strict localism often risk sliding into cultural provincialism or nationalist enclosure—fantasies of purity that ignore how deeply entangled our lives already are.—
Manuela Moscoso,
Artforum,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Somehow, reality was even better than our fantasies.—
Lara Kramer,
Condé Nast Traveler,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Stephanie also has a story on the whimsies created by chocolate artist Chris Ford at his West Hollywood pop-up shop.—
Bill Addison,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Feb. 2026
-
In The Girlfriend, the truth is malleable, open to change based on our biases, judgments, whimsies, and desires.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whims.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whims. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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