on a whim

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Prepositional phrase

on a whim

1. (idiomatic) Without thinking seriously about the consequences.
   • 2022 December 16, Dan Milmo, Rowena Mason, Alex Hern, “Twitter’s suspension of journalists sets ‘dangerous precedent’, UN warns”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Germany’s government said press freedom must not be switched “on and off on a whim” and Downing Street also raised concerns over the suspensions.

Synonyms

• on a lark

Translations

without thinking seriously about the consequences

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心血來潮／心血来潮 (zh) (xīnxuèláicháo)

• Dutch: in een opwelling
• Finnish: hetken mielijohteesta
• French: sur un coup de tête (fr), à l’emporte-pièce (fr)
• German: aus einer Laune heraus
• Italian: alla leggera
• Polish: dla kaprysu
• Portuguese: num repente