capricious
adjective
Simple meaning
Impulsive and unpredictable.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhprishuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəpˈɹɪʃəs
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.
adjective
Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim.
Used this way, capricious is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It suits reflective writing more than quick conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Fortunate or pleasantly unexpected
- Usage feel
- Reflective and slightly elevated
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use capricious
- “I almost died in a capricious winter storm.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.