different between capricious vs chimerical

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French capricieux, from Italian capriccioso, from capriccio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??p????s/
• Rhymes: -???s

Adjective

capricious (comparative more capricious, superlative most capricious)

1. Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim.

   Synonyms: arbitrary, whimsical, fickle

   Antonyms: conscientious, rigorous

Usage notes

• Capricious can describe both a person and the decisions they make.

Derived terms

• capriciously

Related terms

• caprice

Translations

Anagrams

• auriscopic

English

Alternative forms

• chimaerical, chimærical

Etymology

From chimera, from Latin chimaera, from Ancient Greek ??????? (khímaira, “she-goat”). This term entered English in or around 1638.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??m???k?l/

Adjective

chimerical (comparative more chimerical, superlative most chimerical)

1. Of or pertaining to a chimera.
2. Being a figment of the imagination; fantastic (in the archaic sense).
   • 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

     "Yes; I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical, are really extremely practical—so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese."

   a chimerical goal

3. Inherently fantastic; wildly fanciful.
4. Resulting from the expression of two or more genes that originally coded for separate proteins.

Derived terms

• chimerically

Translations

Anagrams

• cimeliarch