arbitrary
92
6.1
- adjective
- /ˈɑːrbɪtreri/
:
arbitrario
- The committee made an arbitrary choice about the project's future without any clear criteria.
- an arbitrary decision
- an arbitrary rule
- arbitrary and capricious
That is just a random, arbitrary, nonsensical statement.
- That is just a random, arbitrary, nonsensical statement.
- It's only those that can make arbitrary decisions.
- That's the dad we were handed by a cruel, arbitrary God.
- It's not random and it's not arbitrary.
- I, I said it's an arbitrary construct, which yeah, illusion, I think.
- The conjunction may be arbitrary and casual.
- We would be able to say with arbitrary accuracy.
- That's what's arbitrary that produces in that domain dependence.
Examples
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But the boundaries that you are transgressing are arbitrary.
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Ordinary Indians have few means to defend themselves against the arbitrary acts of chief and council.
Fiction book (2002) -
But it's, it's so arbitrary and yet specific.
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But this is not quite so arbitrary, it seems.
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Understand, none of this was arbitrary.
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Or do you find this rule too arbitrary or too rigid?
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These divisions of time are purely arbitrary.
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Aren't you being rather arbitrary?
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Those rules may seem arbitrary at times, they may seem impossible at times, they may seem unfair or onerous, but they are rules nonetheless.
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On the other hand, this may be seen as an arbitrary and unjustified dividing line.
Academic text (1999)
Synonyms
527
3.4
Happening without a plan and by chance
Antonyms
How Arbitrary
Surface Forms
Morphology
arbitrary = arbitr + ary
Although formed from a Latin combining form related to judging, the modern sense 'based on random choice or whim' has shifted and is not directly derivable by an average B1 learner from the parts.
Etymology
Arbitrary comes from the old Latin word arbiter, which means 'judge' or 'someone who decides'. So arbitrary originally meant a choice made by one person's decision, and today it describes something done by personal whim or without a fair system.