Arbitrary

//ˈɑː.bɪ.tɹə.ɹi// adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random. usually

    "Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary."

  2. 2
    Determined by impulse rather than reason; often connoting heavy-handedness.

    "1937/1938, Albert Einstein, letter to Max Born 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."

  3. 3
    Any, out of all that are possible.

    "The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x."

  4. 4
    Determined by independent arbiter.
  5. 5
    Not representative or symbolic; not iconic.
Adjective
  1. 1
    based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    Anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.

    "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."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English arbitrarie, Latin arbitrārius (“arbitrary, uncertain”), from arbiter (“witness, on-looker, listener, judge, overseer”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English arbitrarie, Latin arbitrārius (“arbitrary, uncertain”), from arbiter (“witness, on-looker, listener, judge, overseer”).

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