Dictionary entry

Caprice

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Ca‐price″ (kȧ‐prēs″), n. [F. caprice, It. capriccio, caprice (perh. orig. a fantastical goat leap), fr. L. caper, capra, goat. Cf Capriole, Cab, Caper, v. i.] 1. An abrupt change in feeling, opinion, or action, proceeding from some whim or fancy; a freak; a notion. “Caprices of appetite.” W. Irving.

2. (Mus.) See Capriccio.

Syn. — Freak; whim; crotchet; fancy; vagary; humor; whimsey; fickleness.