arbitrary
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English arbitrarie, Latin arbitrarius (“‘arbitrary, uncertain’”), from arbiter (“‘witness, on-looker, listener, judge, overseer’”)
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Adjective
arbitrary (comparative more arbitrary, superlative most arbitrary)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- (usually of a decision) 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)
- (mathematics) Any and all possible.
- The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x.
[edit] Related terms
- arbit
- arbiter
- arbitrable
- arbitrage
- arbitrariness
- arbitrary and capricious
- arbitrate
- arbitration
- arbitrator
[edit] Translations
based on individual discretion or judgment
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unrestrained by law; tyrannical
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determined by impulse
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chosen at random
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(mathematics)
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[edit] External links
- arbitrary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- arbitrary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
