whimsical
Syllables: whim·si·calUK/ˈwɪmzɪkəl/
whimsical adjective: given to whimsy.
Adjective
whimsical (comparative more whimsical, superlative most whimsical)
- Given to whimsy.
- "But perhaps he may be a little whimsical in his civilities," replied her uncle. "Your great men often are; and therefore I shall not take him at his word, as he might change his mind another day, and warn me off his grounds."1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
- Mr. Sherlock Holmes was leaning back in his chair after his whimsical protest, and was unfolding his morning paper in a leisurely fashion, […].1903 October 31, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- idiosyncratic, outlandish, peculiar, pixilated, playful, quirky, unconventional, witty, amusing, bright
whimsical meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
whimsical in Tamil
- சட்டென, திடீரென்று தோன்றும் கருத்து, ஏறுக்குமாறாக
whimsical in Urdu
- دو دلا, تلون مزاج, وہمی
whimsical in Bengali
- খেয়ালি ও কল্পনাপ্রবণ, আনন্দময় অদ্ভুত
whimsical in Malayalam
- ക്ഷണികബുദ്ധിയുളള, വിചിത്ര, തോന്നിയവാസമുളള
More languagesFewer languages
- whimsical in Kannada
- ವಿಚಿತ್ರವರ್ತನೆಯ, ವಿಚಿತ್ರ ಭಾವನೆಯ, ಐಲುಪೈಲಾದ, ತಿಕ್ಕಲಿನ
Examples of whimsical in a sentence
- The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical.1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
- Her lips wavered into a smile—she had been distracted by the whimsical remembrance of the confidences she had made to him, two years earlier, in that very room.1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
- Lovers of the movies may well date a new screen era from the day those whimsical pantomimers set their wholesome and humane talent at the service of the arc light and the lens.1919, Christopher Morley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Haunted Bookshop, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:
- Even the putatively innocuous whimsical shapes and designs of cakes and pastry, notably in Central Europe, retain to this day the phallic concept[.]1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page iii:
Synonyms of whimsical
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of whimsical
| comparative | more whimsical |
|---|---|
| superlative | most whimsical |
Origin of whimsical
From whimsy + -ical.
Words formed from whimsical
Questions about whimsical
- What does whimsical mean?
- Whimsical means given to whimsy.
- What is whimsical in Tamil?
- Whimsical in Tamil is சட்டென, திடீரென்று தோன்றும் கருத்து, ஏறுக்குமாறாக. See Whimsical meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use whimsical in a sentence?
- The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical.
- What part of speech is whimsical?
- Whimsical is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce whimsical?
- Whimsical is pronounced /ˈwɪmzɪkəl/ (UK).
Words near whimsical in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: whimsical (page history and authors); whimsical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); whimsical (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); whimsical (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); whimsical (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); whimsical (Kannada Wiktionary) (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-us-whimsical.ogg.
Cite this entry: “whimsical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whimsical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.