arbitrary

American  

[ahr-bi-trer-ee] / ˈɑr bɪˌtrɛr i /

adjective

1. 

   subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one's discretion.

   an arbitrary decision.

2. decided by a judge or arbiter rather than by a law or statute.

3. having unlimited power; uncontrolled or unrestricted by law; despotic; tyrannical.

   an arbitrary government.

4. based on whim or personal preference, without reason or pattern; random.

   This is an unusual encyclopedia, arranged by topics in a more or less arbitrary order.

5. Mathematics. undetermined; not assigned a specific value.

   an arbitrary constant.

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noun

• arbitraries
  plural

1. Printing. arbitraries, (in Britain) peculiar.

arbitrary British  

/ ˈɑːbɪtrərɪ /

adjective

1. founded on or subject to personal whims, prejudices, etc; capricious

2. having only relative application or relevance; not absolute

3. (of a government, ruler, etc) despotic or dictatorial

4. maths not representing any specific value

   an arbitrary constant

5. law (esp of a penalty or punishment) not laid down by statute; within the court's discretion

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• arbitrariness
  noun
• nonarbitrary
  adjective
• unarbitrary
  adjective
• arbitrarily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• arbitraries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of arbitrary

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin arbitrārius “uncertain” (i.e., depending on an arbiter's decision); see origin at arbiter, -ary

Explanation

Something that's arbitrary seems like it's chosen at random instead of following a consistent rule. Team members would dislike their coach using a totally arbitrary method to pick starting players. Even though arbitrary comes from a word meaning "judge" (arbiter), that doesn't mean judges are always fair. Calling a decision-maker arbitrary is usually a negative thing, suggesting the person is making rules based on whim rather than justice. A coach who selects starting players arbitrarily isn't strictly applying a rule; he could just be picking names out of a hat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arbitrary arbitraries

The long and in some ways arbitrary process of being granted citizenship—more than 10 years ago, before the advent of increasingly stringent rules—makes life hard for the couple.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

A three-judge bench ruled that the pardon granted by then president Maithripala Sirisena in May 2019 was "arbitrary and invalid".

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

District Judge David O. Carter issued a preliminary injunction, calling HUD’s action arbitrary and capricious.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

What’s striking to me is not the message that beauty standards are arbitrary, which is a nice takeaway, but the fact that she is abnormal in her “ugliness,” such as it is defined.

From Slate ● Sep. 2, 2026

All of this may seem very arbitrary, but it's important to remember that medieval mode theory, just like our modern music theory, was not trying to invent a logical system of music.

From "Understanding Basic Music Theory" by Catherine Schmidt-Jones and Russel Jones

Some contained codes, devised by Anson Stager, general manager of U.S. military telegraphs, that inserted decoy words or arbitraries into messages that were unscrambled with cipher charts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2016

Related Words

• capricious
• discretionary
• erratic
• frivolous
• inconsistent
• irrational
• irresponsible
• random
• subjective
• unreasonable
• willful