WHIM

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does whim mean? 

• WHIM (noun)
  The noun WHIM has 2 senses:

1. a sudden desire

2. an odd or fanciful or capricious idea

  Familiarity information: WHIM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WHIM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sudden desire

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

caprice; impulse; whim

Context example:

he bought it on an impulse

Hypernyms ("whim" is a kind of...):

desire (the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An odd or fanciful or capricious idea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

notion; whim; whimsey; whimsy

Context example:

whimsy can be humorous to someone with time to enjoy it

Hypernyms ("whim" is a kind of...):

idea; thought (the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about)

 Context examples 

It was due to his whim that I was detained aboard in the first place.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Wild and full of childish whims as Em'ly was, she was more of a little woman than I had supposed.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As Mrs. Weston observed, “all young people would have their little whims.”

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I have not been used to submit to any person's whims.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

They had dined together in San Francisco, and were at the Ferry Building, returning to Oakland, when the whim came to him to show Martin the "real dirt."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I may add that he is enormously rich, and whatever his whims may be he can very easily satisfy them.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘Oh, yes,’ said he, turning to me, ‘we are very much obliged to you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut your hair.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A thoughtless whim seized Thornton, and he drew the attention of Hans and Pete to the experiment he had in mind.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

His last whim had been to bring with him on his weekly visits some new, useful, and ingenious article for the young housekeeper.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He would be a harder, sterner man, not so ready to adapt himself to a silly girl's whim.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)