arbitrary
Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.
Example
“Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary.”
Other meanings
Determined by impulse rather than reason; often connoting heavy-handedness.
Any, out of all that are possible.
“The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x.”
Related words
- nonarbitrary
- unarbitrary
- arbitrary unit
- arbitrary-precision arithmetic
- arbitrarily
- arbitrarity
- arbitrariness
Example sentences
Word history
From Latin "arbitrārius" (arbitrary, uncertain).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “arbitrary” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.