# arbitrary

Pronunciation: US say "AHR-bi-trair-ee" /ˈɑɹ.bɪˌtɹɛ(ə).ɹi/; UK say "AHR-bi-truh-ree" /ˈɑː.bɪ.tɹə.ɹi/; AUS say "AHR-buh-truh-ree"

## Adjective

1. Based on personal choice or judgment rather than any objective standard, and sometimes made at random.
   - Simple: Decided by personal choice rather than a clear rule, sometimes even by chance.
   - _The committee's decision seemed arbitrary, resting on preference rather than fixed criteria._
   - _Setting the cutoff at exactly seventy points was entirely arbitrary._
2. Driven by impulse rather than reason, often suggesting a harsh or high-handed use of power.
   - Simple: Based on someone's mood instead of good reasons, often in a harsh, bossy way.
   - _The regime's arbitrary arrests created a climate of fear._
   - _Workers resented the supervisor's arbitrary demands, issued on a whim._
3. Any one whatsoever, selected from all those that are possible.
   - Simple: Any one you like, chosen from all the possible options.
   - _Let x be an arbitrary integer greater than zero._
   - _The proof holds for an arbitrary triangle, not just right triangles._
4. Bearing no natural or resemblance-based connection to what it signifies; not iconic.
   - Simple: Having no natural link to the thing it stands for.
   - _Most letters of the Latin alphabet are now arbitrary shapes, though several began as pictures of objects._
   - _Unlike a portrait, a written word is arbitrary, resembling nothing it names._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Something fixed at will rather than by rule, such as a chosen numerical value or a fee.
- (adjective) Settled by an independent arbiter rather than by the parties themselves.

## Origin

Latin arbiter, a "witness, judge, or overseer," gave the adjective arbitrārius ("arbitrary, uncertain"), which became Middle English arbitrarie.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/arbitrary (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).