arbitrary

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
"Justice is altogether an arbitrary, a relative phrase," Wrayson declared.

View all »
Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. adjective Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle: stopped at the first motel we passed, an arbitrary choice.
  2. adjective Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference: The diet imposes overall calorie limits, but daily menus are arbitrary.
  3. adjective Established by a court or judge rather than by a specific law or statute: an arbitrary penalty.
2 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • So, having successfully misrepresented an amalgam of gases as one, the next challenge was to label arbitrary output ranges of that arbitrary blend as a vehicle's "Global Warming Score." —  Knowledge is Power
  • The U.S. News & World Report rankings of colleges and universities are largely arbitrary, according to a new mathematical analysis. —  Science News / Features, Blog Entries, Column Entries, Issues, News Items and Book Reviews
  • Yet this breakdown is rather arbitrary, as many of the tips are techniques to know and use, rather than configurations to manage or applications to install. —  Medlogs - Recent stories
  • But Sanchez said Raul Castro's government has increased "low-intensity political and social repression in the form of hundreds of short-term arbitrary detentions." —  The Herald | HeraldOnline.com - Front
  • NetApp claimed that the amount of space reserve for snaps was entirely arbitrary, and could be set as low, or as high, as needed depending on customer requirements. —  Chuck's Blog
More examples »
 

Tags

arbitrary hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 292 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

unjust ·  unreasonable ·  legal ·  tyrannical ·  random ·  absurd ·  capricious ·  cruel ·  erroneous
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English arbitrarie, from Latin arbitrārius, from arbiter, arbitr-, arbiter; see arbiter.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French arbitraire = Provencal arbitrari = Spanish Portuguese Italian arbitrario, from Latin arbitrarius, of arbitration, hence uncertain, depending on the will, from arbiter, arbiter, umpire: see arbiter.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈɑrbɪtrəri/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a week.

Recently looked up

Sings · campagne · solitude · kirkyard · renege

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket