WANTa sudden feeling that you would like to do or have something, especially when there is no important or good reason 突发的念头,一时的兴致〔尤指没有重要或充分的理由时〕
on a whim
I didn’t leave just on a whim (=for no good reason).
我不是一时心血来潮离开的。
at the whim of somebody
At work they are at the whim of the boss.
工作中他们要配合老板的步调行事。
somebody’s every whim
Their father had always indulged her every whim.
他们的父亲总是对她百依百顺。
at whim
He appeared and disappeared at whim.
他想来就来,想走就走。
Examples from the Corpus
whim• This is just a whim but it is great fun.• I don't know why I bought it. I suppose it was just a whim.• I went to visit her on a whim.• Athletes are penalized for transferring, but coaches may leave on a whim.• He had never been able to lose himself in a crowd, or dash off somewhere suddenly on a whim.• The sail had been a hindrance, making sport of me at each whim of the wind, so I lowered it.• It cried out to be fondled, yanked, and squeezed, and I bowed to its whims with a willing heart.• That first day or two, I kept on thinking he would telephone, that it was all a sort of whim.
on a whim• He broke agreementson a whim, relying on privatebargains and connections.• She remembered that somewhere Dorothy had kept old photographalbums and, on a whim, began to search for them.• But don't for one moment feel you're fickle if you change your perfume constantly, on a whim.• That is my point: you have castaside the probability of futurehappinesson a whim.• Athletes are penalized for transferring, but coaches may leave on a whim.• Bought them by the yard or by the box, or on a whim.• With the city in such a ferment, they could be stopped on a whim by police or soldiers.• He had never been able to lose himself in a crowd, or dash off somewhere suddenly on a whim.• She decided to make the tripon a whim.
Originwhim
(1600-1700)whim-wham“decorative object, whim”((16-19 centuries)), of unknown origin
ADJECTIVE | VERB + WHIM | PREPOSITION | PHRASESADJECTIVE➤sudden突發的奇想◇The nest is vulnerable to the sudden whims of the weather.這個鳥巢經受不起突然的天氣變化。➤mere僅僅一時的興致▸➤personal個人的興致▸➤political政治上的衝動◇Funding is subject to political whim.撥款受政治情緒左右。VERB + WHIM➤cater to, follow, indulge, pander to, satisfy迎合一時的想法;滿足衝動的念頭▸➤be subject to, be vulnerable to, depend on受一時衝動支配;容易一時衝動;視興致而定◇For years she had been subject to her husband's whims.多年來她一直受丈夫的衝動之苦。PREPOSITION➤at (sb's) whim隨(某人)意◇They seem to be able to change the rules of the game at whim.他們好像能夠隨意改變比賽規則。◇Slaves could be bought and sold at the whim of their masters.當時奴隸可由奴隸主隨意買賣。➤on a whim心血來潮◇He bought the jacket on a whim.他一時心血來潮就買了這件夾克。PHRASES➤your every whim每個怪念頭◇The child's parents pandered to his every whim.這個孩子的父母對他百般縱容。