Borrowed from French caprice, from Italian capriccio, from caporiccio.

• IPA: /kəˈpɹiːs/

caprice (plural caprices)

1. An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated action, change of mind, or notion.

   Synonyms: whim

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC ↗, page 244 ↗:

     Though more thoughtful than Madame de Mercœur, yet it asked far more knowledge of society—that wilderness of small intricacies—for her to penetrate into the motives of those who seemed so suddenly struck with her fascination; but she was too clear-headed to be deceived, and set it all down under one general belief in caprice.

   • 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “The Honourable Mr. Glascock”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, […], →OCLC ↗, page 107 ↗:

     It would have been a great privilege to be the mistress of an old time-honoured mansion, to call oaks and elms her own, to know that acres of gardens were submitted to her caprices, to look at herds of cows and oxen, and be aware that they lowed on her own pastures.

2. A brief romance.

   Synonyms: fling

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC ↗:

     The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that a caprice lasts a little longer.

3. An unpredictable or sudden condition, change, or series of changes.
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, chapter 6, in The Whisperer in Darkness:

     After that we cast off all allegiance to immediate, tangible, and time-touched things, and entered a fantastic world of hushed unreality in which the narrow, ribbon-like road rose and fell and curved with an almost sentient and purposeful caprice amidst the tenantless green peaks and half-deserted valleys

4. A disposition to be impulsive.
   • 1726, [Edward Young], The Universal Passion. Satire the Last. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Walpole., 1st edition, London: […] J[ames] Roberts […], →OCLC ↗, page 2 ↗:

     Yet, Britain, vvhence this Caprice of thy Sons, / VVhich thro' their various ranks vvith fury runs? / The cauſe is plain, a cauſe vvhich vve muſt bleſs; / For Caprice is the Daughter of Succeſs, […]

   • 1821, William Hazlitt, “Essay XII. On Will-making.”, in Table-Talk; or, Original Essays, volume I, London: John Warren, […], →OCLC ↗, page 267 ↗:

     This last act of our lives seldom belies the former tenor of them, for stupidity, caprice, and unmeaning spite. All that we seem to think of is to manage matters so […] as to do as little good, and to plague and disappoint as many people as possible.

5. (music) A capriccio.

• capricious

• French: caprice
• German: Laune
• Portuguese: capricho
• Russian: капри́з
• Spanish: capricho

• Russian: своенравие

1. A female given name.