Capricious

Definition: Capricious

Capricious

Adjective

1. Changeable; "a capricious summer breeze"; "freakish weather".

2. Determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason; "a capricious refusal"; "authoritarian rulers are frequently capricious"; "the victim of whimsical persecutions".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "capricious" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references)

Etymology: Capricious \Ca*pri"cious\, adjective. [Compare to the French expression capricleux, Italian capriccioso.]. (references)

Synonyms: Capricious

Absence of Motive

Adjective: without rhyme or reason; aimless, capricious, whimsical; (chance).

Caprice

Verb: be capricious; Adjective: have a maggot in the brain; take it into one's head, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel; blow hot and cold; play fast and loose, play fantastic tricks; tourner casaque.

Adjective: capricious; erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical; full of whims; Noun: maggoty; inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky, particular, humorsome, freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward; contrary; captious; arbitrary; unconformable; penny wise and pound foolish; fickle; (irresolute); frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile.

Changeableness

Unstaid, inconstant; unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled; fluctuating; Verb: restless; agitated; erratic, fickle; irresolute; capricious; touch and go; inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic; vibratory; vagrant, wayward; desultory; afloat; alternating; alterable, plastic, mobile; transient; wavering.

Irregularity of recurrence

Dj. irregular, uncertain, unpunctual, capricious, desultory, fitful, flickering; rambling, rhapsodical; spasmodic; immethodical, unmethodical, variable.

Irresolution

Vacillating; Verb: unsteady; (changeable); unsteadfast, fickle, without ballast; capricious; volatile, frothy; light, lightsome, light-minded; giddy; fast and loose.

Crosswords: Capricious

Books

• A Century of Capricious Collecting, 1877-1970: From the Gallery In Science Hall to the Elvehjem Museum of Art (reference)

• A Thousand Capricious Chances: A History of the Nethuen List 1889-1989 (reference)

• El Paseante 18 - 19 Capricious Spainard (reference)

• The Capricious Cosmos: Universe Beyond Law (reference)

• The Great Outdoors Book of Shuffleboard: Those Capricious Discs (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Authorized International Edition of the Soyuzmultfilm Library (in Russian) Vol 55: Red Riding Hood, Mashenika and Black Bear, Once There Lived a Grandmother's Goat, Capricious Princess (reference)

• Capricious Summer (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Her voice trembled, and she was capricious.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Economic History

Indonesia

Progress on corruption cases against is excruciatingly slow and capricious. (references)

Equatorial Guinea

Its role is a diminishing one, although many government interactions with the private sector are at times capricious. (references)

Burma

Policy shifts also tend to be ad hoc, capricious and inconsistent, while regulatory changes are often arbitrary and unannounced. (references)

Human Rights

Ecuador

Many of these are conflicting, and judges have been known to pick and choose from archaic legislation in an arbitrary or capricious manner. (references)

Political Economy

Argentina

A variety of cases exist where U.S. companies have been unfairly affected by what they consider to be arbitrary and capricious enforcement of laws. (references)

Burma

While foreign investment has been welcomed by the government, the lack of the rule of law in Burma ensures that anyone doing business in Burma -- local or foreigner -- faces the potential for arbitrary and capricious treatment by authorities at all levels. (references)

Trade

Uzbekistan

Customs clearance is a tedious and capricious bureaucratic process. (references)

Worker Rights

Mali

These children are not protected by laws against unjust compensation, excessive hours, or capricious discharge. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expression using "capricious": be capricious. Additional references.

Albanian

tekanjoz (faddish, faddy, freakish, temperamental, wanton, wayward, whimsical), ojnatar, kapriçioz (crotchety, faddish, faddy, fanciful, tricksy, vagarious, whimsical). (various references)

Arabic 

‏متقلب (changeable, changeful, choppy, fickle, flighty, fluctuant, fluky, freakish, incalculable, inconsistent, inconstant, jumpy, mercurial, mobile, moody, mutable, reversible, rough and tumble, shaky, skittish, temperamental, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, variable, versatile, volatile, wavering, wayward, weather vane, whimsical, yeasty), ‏نزوي (whimsical), ‏قلب (alter, bring down, capsize, center, centre, change, convert, core, essence, flip, heart, inversion, invert, inverting, leaf, middle, overthrow, overturn, reversal, reverse, tip, topple, transform, transformation, turn, turn about, turn around, turn inside down, turn over, turn up, upset, upturn, whimsical), ‏حول (ability, about, alien, around, be cross eyed, bleach, commit, concerning, deed, deliver, deter, divert, encode, hand down, hand over, make, metamorphose, power, process, redress, refer, relocate, round, stop, switch, transfer, transmute, transpose, turn, whimsical, withdraw, work, year), ‏غريب الأطوار (crackpot, cranky, curious, eccentric, nutty, odd, off beat, peculiar, queer, weird, weirdo, whimsical). (various references)

Bulgarian 

своенравен (crotchety, perverse, temperamental, vagarious, wayward, wilful, wrongheaded, wry), капризен (erratic, faddish, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, fastidious, fickle, fractious, freakish, freaky, fretful, ill, inconstant, maggoty, particular, petulant, skittish, tricksy, vagarious, vagrant, wayward, whimsical), непостоянен (astatic, casual, changeable, changeful, discontinuous, erratic, fickle, fluctuating, fluid, impermanent, inconstant, irregular, liquid, lubricous, mobile, mutable, non-persistent, seesaw, sporadic, streaky, uncertain, unequable, uneven, unreliable, unstable, unsteady, vagarious, variable, variant, volatile, wayward, whimsical, yo-yo). (various references)

Chinese 

反复� 常 (Caprice), 任性 . (various references)

Czech

rozmarný (vagarious, whimsical), náladový (crotchety, erratic, freakish, Moody, temperamental, whimsical). (various references)

Dutch

onberekenbaar (fitful), nukkig (fitful), grillig (fantastic, fitful, grotesque, of fantasy). (various references)

Esperanto

kaprica (fitful). (various references)

Faeroese

ríggjutur (fitful), lúnutur (fitful). (various references)

Farsi 

هوسباز (Light), دمدمی مزاج (Cyclothyme, Erratic, Pliant), بوالهوس (Whimsical). (various references)

Finnish

oikullinen (whimsical), oikukas (whimsical). (various references)

French

capricieux, lunatique, fantasque. (various references)

German

launenhaft (capriciously, changeable, cranky, Moody, temperamental, temperamentally, uncertain, whimsical), kapriziös (capriciously), launisch (changeable, fickle, freakish, mood, moodily, Moody, perverse, pettish, pettishly, petulant, sulkily, temperamental, temperamentally, vagarious, wayward). (various references)

Greek 

ιδιότροποσ (cranky, crotchety, faddy, fastidious, flighty, maggoty, pernickety, quirky, wanton, wayward, whimsical), άστατοσ (fickle, flighty, floater, inconstant, mercurial, tergiversator, uncertain, unsettled, unstable, volatile, whiffler), αλλοπρόσαλλος (double-faced, fickle). (various references)

Hebrew 

ש�'יו� י (flighty, obsessive), קפריסי (flighty, wanton, wayward, whimsical, whimsy), �'מחו� י (obstinate, stubborn), �'חמ� י (incendiary, whimsical), צפרו� י (birdwitted). (various references)

Hungarian

szeszélyes (be capricious, changeful, erratic, fanciful, fickle, fitful, freakish, have a little finger ache, have moods, kinky, maggoty, mercurial, moody, peevish, petulant, skittish, wanton, whimsical), hóbortos (crack-brained, crotchety, eccentric, extravagant, faddist, faddy, fanciful, fantastic, have bats in the belfry, pixilated, queer in the head, vagarious, whacky, whimsical), önfejű (chesty, headstrong, obstinate, pertinacious, perverse, recalcitrant, self-willed, wilful). (various references)

Indonesian

berubah-ubah (fluid), bertingkah (crotchety). (various references)

Italian

capriccioso (fanciful, flighty, freakish, maggoty, skittish, temperamental, wayward, whimsical, wilful, willful). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

飽きっぽい (fickle, soon wearied of), 慰み半分 (partly for fun), 機嫌買い (fickle), 斑気 (moody, whimsical). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

なぐさみは�"ぶ�" (partly for fun), き�'�"かい (fickle), あきっぽい (fickle, soon wearied of), むらき (moody, whimsical). (various references)

Manx

teaymagh (fickle, fitful, freakish, humoursome, moody, notional, spasmodic, wavering, whimsical), skelimagh (arbitrary, freakish). (various references)

Pig Latin

apriciouscay.(various references)

Portuguese

caprichoso (arbitrary, cantankerous, caprice, crotchety, difficult, extravagant, faddist, fanciful, fitful, freakish, kittle, maggoty, notional, peevish, skittish, temperamental, tidy, viewy, wayward, whim, whimsical), inconstante (astatic, changeable, changeful, desultory, fanciful, fickle, flighty, giddy, impermanent, inconstant, light-minded, mutable, shifting, skittish, uncertain, unequable, unequal, unreliable, unstable, unsure, variable, versatile), excêntrico (barmy, bizarre, cam, cranky, crotcheteer, crotchety, eccentric, eccentrical, erratic, kinky, lunatic, madcap, odd, oddball, peculiar, potty, quaint, queer, quizzical, strange, suburban, tappet, wacky, weird, whimsical, wiper, wobbler). (various references)

Romanian

cu toane (fanciful, fancy, maggoty, Moody, wayward, whimsical, whimsy), capricios (arbitrary, cranky, crotchety, difficult, fanciful, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, fickle, fitful, fractious, freakish, frolic, Froward, humoursome, peevish, perverse, vagarious, wanton, wayward, whimsical, whimsy), schimbãtor (catching, changeable, chequered, choppy, fickle, inconstant, mobile, Moody, moonish, mutable, shifty, slippery, switch, unequal, unsettled, unsteady, variable, varied, versatile, volatile), inconstant (fickle, inconstant, unsteady, versatile), fantezist (fanciful, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, invented, lunar, notionist, phantasmal, strange, whimsical). (various references)

Russian 

капризный (arbitrary, crotchety, difficile, flighty, fractious, freakish, fretful, huffish, moody, peevish, prankish, temperamental, vagarious, wayward, whimsical). (various references)

Scottish

beadaidh (fastidious, impudent). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

kapriciozan (whimsical), jogunast (balky, baulky, difficult, obstinate, refractory, thwart). (various references)

Spanish

caprichoso (faddish, faddy, fanciful, flighty, freak, freakish, hardheaded, headstrong, opinionated, skittish, temperamental, vagary, wanton, wayward, whimsical, wilful, willful). (various references)

Swedish

nyckfull (faddish, fanciful, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, fickle, flighty, freakish, skittish, uncertain, unpredictable, wayward, whimsical). (various references)

Turkish

kaprisli (fanciful, fey, freakish, humoursome, notional, wayward, whimsey, whimsical, whimsy), gelgeç gönüllü, değişken (changeable, changeful, choppy, erratic, factor, fickle, fitful, flexible, flexile, fluid, fluxional, incalculable, inconsistent, inconstant, inequable, labile, mercurial, mobile, mutable, protean, shifting, sliding, streaked, streaky, swinging, uncertain, unfunded, unstable, unsteady, variable, variant, versatile), dönek (apostate, changeable, changeful, deserter, fickle, flukey, fluky, inconstant, lubricious, piker, protean, quitter, rat, Ratter, renegade, turnabout, turncoat, untrustworthy, versatile, volatile). (various references)

Turkmen 

ynjyk (tender, whimsical). (various references)

Ukrainian

смішний (amusing, boffo, comic, comical, droll, funny, laughable, ludicrous, risible, zany), капризний (prankish, whimmy), непостійний (ambulatory, changeable, changeful, fickle, flighty, impermanent, instable, mercurial, non-permanent, shifting, unstable, unsteady, variant, volatile, voluble, weathercock), мінливий (changeable, changeful, chatoyant, chequered, choppy, floating, inconsistent, interchangeable, mutable, non-permanent, skittish, stayless, uncertain, vagrant, variable, varied, wanton, wavy, wayward), примхливий (arbitrary, choice, cranky, fanciful, fractious, freak, freakish, huffish, humorous, humous, inconstant, maggoty, naughty, notional, notionate, skittish, whimsey, whimsical, whimsy), дивний (amazing, astonishing, astounding, bizarre, curious, freakish, odd, oddball, oddish, offbeat, original, out of the way, outlandish, quaint, queer, rum, rummy, strange, unaccountable, weird, wonderful, wondrous). (various references)

Vietnamese 

thất thường (arbitrary, casual, erratic, erratically, fit, start), đ�"ng bóng (fizgig, freakish, mercurial, moonish). (various references)

Welsh

mympwyol (arbitrary, whimsical). (various references)

levana, leve, levem, levi, levia, leviora, leviores, levis, levius, leviusque, ludicer, morosus. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "capricious": capriciously, capriciousness, capriciousnesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Capricious" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: capicious, caprcious, caprecious, caprichos, capricios, capriciouw, capriciuos, capricous, caprictious, capricus, caprinious, capritious, caprivians, carissimus, catricious, copricious. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-3 letters: carious, curiosa, picaros, prosaic.

-4 letters: ariosi, capric, capris, carpus, circus, copras, corpus, corsac, crisic, crocus, croups, cupric, curios, occurs, parous, picaro, picric, sapour, scoria, souari, soucar, succor, upsoar.

-5 letters: arcus, aspic, auric, auris, capos, carpi, carps, circa, cisco, cocas, coirs, copra, coria, corps, coups, craps, crisp, croci, crocs, crops, croup, curia, curio, occur.

+2 letters: capriciously.

+3 letters: perspicacious.

+4 letters: capriciousness.

+5 letters: perspicaciously.