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# whim

«whim» in Mova's school dictionary: **a sudden wish or idea to do something, often without a…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a whim, whims)

### meaning for a pupil

A whim is a sudden wish or idea to do something, often without a good reason. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

Used in stories and everyday talk: «on a whim», «at the whim of», «a passing whim». It tells the reader that a choice was sudden and not planned.

### examples

- On a whim, we went to the beach after school. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#x1)
- She bought the hat on a whim. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#x2)
- The king changed the laws at his every whim. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#x3)
- Sailors were at the whim of the weather. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#x4)
- It was just a whim, and he forgot about it the next day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#x5)
- Don't spend all your money on a whim. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#x6)
- Tell him that to satisfy a whim you have, he must give you a dress the colour of the weather. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/#x7)

### note

Countable. Adjective: «whimsical» (playful, odd). «At the whim of» means controlled by someone's sudden wishes.

### In the corpora

- [A piggy bank that is hard to open makes it harder to spend savings on a whim.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/money/9-the-piggy-bank-and-a-jar-for-each-goal/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «whim» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/whim/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.