Arbitrary
WordNet
adjective
(1) Based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice
"An arbitrary decision"
"The arbitrary rule of a dictator"
"An arbitrary penalty"
"Of arbitrary size and shape"
"An arbitrary choice"
"Arbitrary division of the group into halves"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From , , from
Adjective
- Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.
- Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary. In fact, electrons flow in the opposite direction to conventional current.
- The decision to use 18 years as the legal age of adulthood was arbitrary, as both age 17 and 19 were reasonable alternatives.
- Determined by impulse rather than reason; heavy-handed.
- "The Russian trials were Stalin's purges, with which he attempted to consolidate his power. Like most people in the West, I believed these show trials to be the arbitrary acts of a cruel dictator." (Max Born, Letters to Einstein)
- Any and all possible.
- The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x.
Related terms
- arbit
- arbiter
- arbitrable
- arbitrage
- arbitrariness
- arbitrary and capricious
- arbitrate
- arbitration
- arbitrator