adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim.

   "I almost died in a capricious winter storm."

Adjective

1. 1
   determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason wordnet
2. 2
   changeable wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

arbitraryunpredictablewhimsicaladriftafloatagnostic

Antonyms

All antonyms

conscientiousrigorous

Example

More examples

"The formation and movement of hurricanes are capricious, even with our present-day technology."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French capricieux, from Italian capriccioso, from capriccio. By surface analysis, caprice + -ious.

Related phrases

arbitrary and capricious

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.