Word.ws English Dictionary

on a whim

on a whim prepositional phrase: without thinking seriously about the consequences.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Without thinking seriously about the consequences.
    • Germany’s government said press freedom must not be switched “on and off on a whim” and Downing Street also raised concerns over the suspensions.2022 December 16, Dan Milmo, Rowena Mason, Alex Hern, “Twitter’s suspension of journalists sets ‘dangerous precedent’, UN warns”, in The Guardian
    Synonyms:
    on a lark

Synonyms of on a whim

Questions about on a whim

What does on a whim mean?
On a whim means without thinking seriously about the consequences.
What part of speech is on a whim?
On a whim is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on a whim in the dictionary

  1. on a string
  2. on a sudden
  3. on a tear
  4. on a tight leash
  5. on a time
  6. on a whim
  7. on a wing and a prayer
  8. on a wonder
  9. on about
  10. on accident
  11. on account

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on a whim (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-on a whim.ogg.

Cite this entry: “on a whim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_a_whim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.