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whimsical

ˈwɪmzɪkəladjective

What does whimsical mean?

Playfully odd, in a charming way.

Whimsical, six ways

PlainPlayfully odd, in a charming way.
ADHDPlayful and odd. Charming. A little random.
Gen ZQuirky on purpose. A teapot shaped like a cat.
MetaphorA kite that chose its own direction.
FormalPlayfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way.
Like I’m 5Something silly and fun in a cute way, like socks with dinosaurs. That’s whimsical.

How to pronounce whimsical

WIM-zih-kul/ˈwɪmzɪkəl/

Whimsical in a sentence

The garden was full of whimsical sculptures.
Whimsical drawings of cats in waistcoats.
The garden’s design is whimsical.

Synonyms for whimsical

playfulPlainer.
fancifulImaginative, maybe unreal.
quirkyOdd, and casual.

Where whimsical comes from

From whimsy, from whim-wham, a 1500s word for a fanciful trinket. Where that came from, nobody knows.

Good to know

Whimsical is odd in a charming way. It once also meant changeable, like a whim.

Whimsical meaning, on a Gloss card: Playfully odd, in a charming way.

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