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given to whimsy or fanciful notions; capricious
Synonyms: amusing, arbitrary, capricious, chancy, chemerical, comical, curious, dicey, droll, eccentric, erratic, fanciful, fantastic, flaky, freakish, funny, iffy, kinky, mischievious, odd, peculiar, quaint, queer, quizzical, singular, uncertain, unpredictable, unusual, waggish, wayward, weird
Example:
"But he must not die. So she swam about among the beams and planks which strewed
the surface of the sea, forgetting that they could crush her to pieces. Then she dived deeply under the dark waters, rising
and falling with the waves, till at length she managed to reach the young prince, who was fast losing the power of swimming
in that stormy sea. His limbs were failing him, his beautiful eyes were closed, and he would have died had not the little
mermaid come to his assistance. She held his head above the water, and let the waves drift them where they would."
~ Hans Christian, The Little Mermaid
Analysis:
The whimsical tone of this excerpt is produced from the
words and details used to describe the little mermaid's actions. The spontaneity and denotations of phrases such as "swam
about among the beams" and "dived deeply under the water" insinuate her actions are operating on a whim. In this excerpt the
whimsical tone refers to the spontaneity of the mermaid's actions, however, it should be noted whimiscal also can be used
to mean fanciful. The phrase " His beautiful eyes were closed and he would have died had not the little mermaid come
to his assistance" illuminate whimsical notions. So, in summation, the two things to look for when identifying a whimsical
tone are fanciful connotations of words, or words that suggest sudden action (whims).
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