arbitrary means based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.
arbitrary is pronounced /ˈɑː.bɪ.tɹə.ɹi/.
Why “arbitrary” is a great word
Determined by individual discretion, impulse, or whim rather than by objective criteria, reason, or a fixed rule. From the Latin arbitrārius ("depending on the decision of an arbiter"), from arbiter ("judge, umpire"), first recorded in English circa 1400–50. Unlike “capricious,” which flares with mercurial shifts of mood, or “methodical,” which moves with deliberate order, “arbitrary” describes a decisive act severed from any chain of justification. It is the border drawn with a ruler across a map where no mountain or river runs, the unannounced rule proclaimed without precedent, the sentence passed for a crime not yet named—a quiet assertion of power that asks no permission from logic.
adj
- Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.e.g.“Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary.”
- Determined by impulse rather than reason; often connoting heavy-handedness.
- Any, out of all that are possible.e.g.“The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x.”
- Determined by independent arbiter.
- Not representative or symbolic; not iconic.
noun
- Anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.e.g.“And in this long chain of consistence, a chain stretching from the long dead to the far unborn, the notion of the arbitrary could only survive as the notion of a pre-established arbitrary.”
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