caprice
noun
Simple meaning
An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated action, change of mind.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhpreesSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəpˈɹis
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated action, change of mind, or notion.
An unpredictable or sudden condition, change, or series of changes.
A disposition to be impulsive.
A sudden desire
A brief romance.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated action, change of mind, or notion.
Used this way, caprice is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Nearby words
- vagary , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: impulsive or seemingly unmotivated action
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.