whimsicality

English

Etymology

From whimsical +‎ -ity.[1]

Noun

whimsicality (countable and uncountable, plural whimsicalities)

  1. (uncountable) The state of being whimsical.
  2. (countable) Something whimsical; a caprice.
    • 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Pause”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, page 139:
      We ask: Has this same ‘perhaps not ill-written Program,’ or any other authentic Transaction of that Property-conserving Society, fallen under the eye of the British Reader, in any Journal foreign or domestic? If so, what are those Prize-Questions; what are the terms of Competition, and when and where? No printed Newspaper-leaf, no farther light of any sort, to be met with in these Paper-bags! Or is the whole business one other of those whimsicalities and perverse inexplicabilities, whereby Herr Teufelsdröckh, meaning much or nothing, is pleased so often to play fast-and-loose with us?

Translations

References

  1. ^ “whimsicality, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
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