vagary
English
Pronunciation
- (General American, formerly) IPA(key): /vəˈɡɛɹi/
- (General American, now commonly) IPA(key): /ˈveɪɡəɹi/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
vagary (plural vagaries)
- An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action.
- 1871, Charles Kingsley, At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies, ch. 8:
- It now turns out that the Pitch Lake, like most other things, owes its appearance on the surface to no convulsion or vagary at all, but to a most slow, orderly, and respectable process of nature, by which buried vegetable matter, which would have become peat, and finally brown coal, in a temperate climate, becomes, under the hot tropic soil, asphalt and oil.
- 1871, Charles Kingsley, At Last: A Christmas In The West Indies, ch. 8:
- An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice or whim.
- 1905, Jack London, War of the Classes, Preface:
- And then came the day when my socialism grew respectable,—still a vagary of youth, it was held, but romantically respectable.
- 1905, Jack London, War of the Classes, Preface:
Synonyms
- (impulsive or illogical desire): see Thesaurus:whim
Translations
An erratic, unpredictable occurrence or action
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An impulsive or illogical desire; a caprice
See also
Anagrams
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