arbitrarily
Americanadverb
-
based on the judgment or will of an individual.
The Fourth Amendment protects my right to not be arbitrarily searched.
-
without an apparent reason or pattern; randomly; capriciously.
There is no need to stop living life to its fullest simply because we have reached some arbitrarily set age for what broader society calls “retirement.”
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of arbitrarily
Explanation
Something said or done arbitrarily is done randomly or without much thought — like when you arbitrarily eat whatever happens to be on the buffet table at your cousin's wedding. The adverb arbitrarily describes something that's done haphazardly, based on random chance or on your own whim of the moment. If you go to a movie and know nothing about anything that's playing, you might arbitrarily choose one — based on the titles, the look of the posters, or on nothing at all. When there's not much reason behind your actions, they're done arbitrarily.
Vocabulary lists containing arbitrarily
Lincoln Inaugural Address (March 1861)
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The Freedom of Information Act (2016)
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The Martian
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Classes are now arbitrarily ranked by income, power and social connections.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
It’s important to know what the fees and investment options are within your retirement accounts, and anyone thinking of consolidating accounts should look at those factors before arbitrarily rolling anything over.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
He said the board doesn’t act arbitrarily or use personal taste.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
I’ve read criticisms of the Doomsday Clock, that it’s gimmicky, like it’s arbitrarily trying to measure something that can’t be defined so easily.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
More or less reflexively, he dropped into his equations something called the cosmological constant, which arbitrarily counterbalanced the effects of gravity, serving as a kind of mathematical pause button.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
