VAGARY


Meaning of VAGARY in English

ˈvāgərē, -ri; vəˈger-, vāˈg-, -ˈga(a)r-, -ˈgār- sometimes ˈvāˌg-; sometimes ˈvagər- or ˈvaigər- noun

( -es )

Etymology: probably from Latin vagari to move about, wander; akin to Latin vagus wandering, Old Irish fān slope, bend, Sanskrit vañcati he goes crooked — more at prevaricate

1. archaic : journey , excursion , tour

permitted to make a walking vagary throughout all London — W.E.Andrews

2. archaic : an aimless digression

presently would fall into a wordy vagary — Richard Baxter

3.

a. obsolete : a departure from the regular, lawful, or proper course of conduct

b. : caper , frolic

into strange vagaries fell, as they would dance — John Milton

4. : a departure from an expected, normal, or logical order or course:

a. : a capricious, eccentric, or unpredictable action

fearing to entrust his person to the vagaries of some erratic cabdriver — David Walden

b. : a change that is hard to predict or explain

dependence of the schooner men upon the vagaries of weather — American Guide Series: Michigan

made the best of the vagaries of circumstance — Rose Macaulay

these prospects … hinge on the vagaries of politics — Fortune

independent of the vagaries of the international market — Vicki Baum

passes through a series of vagaries and vicissitudes — John Barkham

c. : a whimsical, fanciful, or extravagant idea or notion

his mind seemed … to be abandoned to vagaries — S.H.Adams

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.