ARBITRARY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Arbitrary

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/ˈɑrbətrˌɛri/ /ˈɑrbɪtrˌɛri/ Listen

adjective

Arbitrary adj.

Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment. "It was wholly arbitrary in them to do so." "Rank pretends to fix the value of every one, and is the most arbitrary of all things."

Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power. "Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused licentiousness."

Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government.

Arbitrary constant, Arbitrary function (Math.), a quantity of function that is introduced into the solution of a problem, and to which any value or form may at will be given, so that the solution may be made to meet special requirements.

Arbitrary quantity (Math.), one to which any value can be assigned at pleasure.

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Etymology of 'Arbitrary'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Arbitrary" Quotes from Famous Books

... to be stern with her. He forbade her rising. When the nurse came in with the belated ammonia, she found K. making an arbitrary ruling, and Sidney looking up ...

— K • Mary Roberts Rinehart

... society as long as they confine themselves to securing a monopoly over private enterprises, and as long as the law permits them to exercise this autocratic power without control; but such a ring is far less capable of meeting the arbitrary dictation of an aristocratic body of landholders, such as the senate, or of encountering the resentful opposition of a nominally all-powerful body of consumers, such as the Comitia, than a corporation which has struck its roots deeply in society by the ...

— A History of Rome, Vol 1 - During the late Republic and early Principate • A H.J. Greenidge

... to the consideration of the manner in which the disturbance of the brain may affect the mind. The brain is a storehouse of records of things formerly noted there by the imagination, either as the results of sense perception or of arbitrary combinations of phantasms; it is a library of facts and fancies. And these are not single, but grouped together, so that when one is stirred it will arouse others as well. When the brain is affected, whether by an ...

— Moral Principles and Medical Practice - The Basis of Medical Jurisprudence • Charles Coppens

... "A most arbitrary, if not a hasty decision!" exclaimed Heyward, undecided whether to give vent to his growing anger, or to laugh in the other's face. "But you speak of instruction, and of a profession; are you an adjunct to the provincial corps, as a master of the noble ...

— The Last of the Mohicans • James Fenimore Cooper

... extensive piece of ground which is divided into certain arbitrary divisions called holes. A golf course is usually undulating with the holes laid out to afford the greatest possible variety of play. The ordinary course consists of either nine or eighteen holes from 100 to 500 yards apart. An ideal course is about 6000 yards long. The holes which mark ...

— Outdoor Sports and Games • Claude H. Miller

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