variants
also whimsey
as in humor
a sudden impulsive and apparently unmotivated idea or action
the pop singer's latest whimsy is that she has acting talent
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of whimsy
There’s a lot of whimsy, but the cuteness is intertwined with tough stuff, too difficult to be saccharine.
—
Caitlin Lovinger, New York Times, 14 Dec. 2024
The inspiration was luxury, but also a little bit of whimsy, a little bit of playfulness.
—Sydney Gore, Architectural Digest, 3 Jan. 2025
For a bit of whimsy, the annual challenge is always based on the calendar year.
—Gretchen Rubin, TIME, 30 Dec. 2024
Rooms are painted a soothing gray, with marbled wallpaper, stained glass windows, and colorful decor serving as delightful pops of whimsy.
—Monica Mendal, Vogue, 26 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for whimsy 
Caitlin Lovinger, New York Times, 14 Dec. 2024
The inspiration was luxury, but also a little bit of whimsy, a little bit of playfulness.
—Sydney Gore, Architectural Digest, 3 Jan. 2025
For a bit of whimsy, the annual challenge is always based on the calendar year.
—Gretchen Rubin, TIME, 30 Dec. 2024
Rooms are painted a soothing gray, with marbled wallpaper, stained glass windows, and colorful decor serving as delightful pops of whimsy.
—Monica Mendal, Vogue, 26 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for whimsy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whimsy
Noun
-
Through it all—the fights, the coupon cutting, the hand-me-downs, the breakdowns—with love, humor and perseverance, the family prevails.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
28 Jan. 2025
-
Despite great chemistry between stars Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich, and Vincent D'Onofrio, The Newton Boys is a crime film without much tension that devolves into a hangout picture without the humor or wit of his better, well, hangout pictures.—
Brian Smolensky and James Mercadante,
EW.com,
27 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
However, both Sharma and Canora debunk that notion.—
Alexis deBoschnek,
Bon Appétit,
5 Feb. 2025
-
Goodell threw cold water on the notion that there was any favoritism toward the Chiefs.—
Ryan Gaydos,
Fox News,
4 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
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
Noun
-
The impression of Breillat created by her films is that of a person who is unafraid of—who perhaps even delights in—confrontation.—
Victoria Uren,
The New Yorker,
27 Jan. 2025
-
Throughout much of history, these elusive bears left little impression on Chinese literature and art, let alone holding any cultural significance like the dragon, the tiger or the crane.—
Nectar Gan,
CNN,
26 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
During the latest Chinese New Year, Alibaba’s fantasy Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force delivered $7.6 million in box office on Imax screens, and Bona’s naval drama Operation Hadal added another $2.7 million in takings for the giant screen theater network in China.—
Etan Vlessing,
The Hollywood Reporter,
5 Feb. 2025
-
Plot details are currently being kept under wraps, but the film is described as a fantasy dance drama set in the vibrant city of Tokyo.—
Katcy Stephan,
Variety,
5 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
Vape shops have spread across the American retail landscape with a bizarre swiftness, seemingly unbeholden to the same vagaries of inflation, customer demand, and local real estate that bind every other kind of storefront small business in the country.—
Amanda Mull,
The Atlantic,
22 June 2023
-
Third, repeaters should prove capable of swapping this data between nodes in a network in a predictable way and not one too subject to the vagaries of chance.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
13 June 2023
Noun
-
Most important, Afghanistan’s citizens have come to expect a more predictable experience when crossing borders, less subject to the whims and caprice of officials.—
George Gavrilis,
Foreign Affairs,
4 June 2015
-
Back when podcasting wasn’t co-opted by YouTube, the idea was that owning your own successful podcast insulates you from being completely beholden to the caprice of social-media algorithms.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
12 Sep. 2024
Noun
-
As the scholar of Victorian culture Will Abberley outlines, in early works such as Glaucus, Kingsley was prone to interpret nature in moral terms, to finding symbols of virtue in behaviors revealed through observation, so that bees display industriousness, crabs cleanliness, and so on.—
Ben Woollard,
JSTOR Daily,
29 Jan. 2025
-
The senior officials and worker bees in the vast U.S. foreign policy apparatus need an opportunity to assess the state of the world and determine what is and isn’t feasible before funds and energy are expended on a way forward.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near whimsy
Cite this Entry
“Whimsy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whimsy. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share