capricious

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 6, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>capricious</strong> &#149; \kuh-PRISH-us\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> governed or characterized by <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caprice">caprice</a> <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impulsive">impulsive</a>, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unpredictable">unpredictable</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Like all great children's writers, [Jacqueline] Wilson and [E.] Nesbit understood how strange and <em>capricious</em> children could be…." — <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/four-kids-and-it-review-1234570289/">Guy Lodge, <em>Variety</em>, 4 Apr. 2020</a></p> <p>"[The television show] <em>Succession</em> doesn't just get the details right; mirroring the <em>capricious</em> world of media and its greedy overlords, it also makes sweeping plot turns that build to climaxes as bloody as <em>Macbeth</em>." — <a href="https://tv.avclub.com/the-100-best-tv-shows-of-the-2010s-1839672858">Laura Adamczyk, <em>The A.V. Club</em>, 11 Nov. 2019</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>The noun <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caprice">caprice</a></em>, which first appeared in English in the mid-17th century, is a synonym of <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whim">whim</a></em>. Evidence shows that the adjective <em>capricious</em> debuted before <em>caprice</em>; both words are believed to derive, via French, from Italian <em>capriccio</em>, which originally referred not to a sudden desire but to a sudden shudder of fear. The origin of <em>capriccio</em> is uncertain, but the going theory has a certain charm. <em>Capriccio</em> is thought to perhaps be a compounding of Italian <em>capo</em>, meaning "hea