Adjacent Words

Arbitrary definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ARBITRARY, a. [L. arbitrarious.]
1. Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment.
Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.
2. Despotic; absolute in power; having no external control; as, an arbitrary prince or government.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
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" [ant: nonarbitrary, unarbitrary]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 15th century 1. depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by law <the manner of punishment is arbitrary> 2. a. not restrained or limited in the exercise of power ; ruling by absolute authority <an arbitrary government> b. marked by or resulting from the unrestrained and often tyrannical exercise of power <protection from arbitrary arrest and detention> 3. a. based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something <an arbitrary standard> <take any arbitrary positive number> <arbitrary division of historical studies into watertight compartments — A. J. Toynbee> b. existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will <when a task is not seen in a meaningful context it is experienced as being arbitrary — Nehemiah Jordan> • arbitrarily adverb • arbitrariness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 based on or derived from uninformed opinion or random choice; capricious. 2 despotic. Derivatives: arbitrarily adv. arbitrariness n. Etymology: L arbitrarius or F arbitraire (as ARBITER, -ARY(1))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Arbitrary Ar"bi*tra*ry, a. [L. arbitrarius, fr. arbiter: cf. F. arbitraire. See Arbiter.] 1. Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment. It was wholly arbitrary in them to do so. --Jer. Taylor. Rank pretends to fix the value of every one, and is the most arbitrary of all things. --Landor. 2. Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power. Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused licentiousness. --Washington. 3. Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government. --Dryden. Arbitrary constant, Arbitrary function (Math.), a quantity of function that is introduced into the solution of a problem, and to which any value or form may at will be given, so that the solution may be made to meet special requirements. Arbitrary quantity (Math.), one to which any value can be assigned at pleasure.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe an action, rule, or decision as arbitrary, you think that it is not based on any principle, plan, or system. It often seems unfair because of this. Arbitrary arrests and detention without trial were common. ADJ [disapproval] • arbitrarily The victims were not chosen arbitrarily. ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Irresponsible, despotic, autocratic, unlimited, unrestrained, uncontrolled, absolute, tyrannical, tyrannous, imperious, dictatorial, overbearing, peremptory, domineering, bound by no law. 2. Capricious, wilful, whimsical, fanciful, determined by no rule or principle.

Moby Thesaurus

absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, aristocratic, arrogant, autarchic, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, autonomous, bossy, capricious, careless, chance, chancy, cranky, crotchety, despotic, dictatorial, discretional, discretionary, dogmatic, domineering, doubtful, elective, erratic, fanciful, fantasied, fantastic, feudal, flaky, freakish, free, free will, gratuitous, grinding, harebrained, heedless, high-handed, humorsome, iffy, imperative, imperial, imperious, impetuous, inadvertent, inconsiderate, inconsistent, independent, indiscreet, irrational, kinky, kooky, lordly, maggoty, magisterial, magistral, masterful, monocratic, moody, motiveless, nonmandatory, notional, offered, oppressive, optional, oracular, overbearing, overruling, peremptory, petulant, precipitate, proffered, quirky, random, rash, reasonless, repressive, screwball, self-acting, self-active, self-determined, self-determining, severe, spontaneous, strict, subjective, summary, suppressive, temperamental, thoughtless, tyrannical, tyrannous, unasked, unbesought, unbidden, uncalculating, uncalled-for, uncertain, uncoerced, uncompelled, uncompromising, unconstrained, undisciplined, unforced, unguarded, uninfluenced, uninvited, unpredictable, unpressured, unprompted, unreasonable, unreasoning, unreflecting, unrequested, unrequired, unrestrained, unruly, unsolicited, unsought, unthinking, unthoughtful, vagarious, vagrant, varying, voluntary, volunteer, wanton, wayward, whimsical, wild, willful, zany