Word info Synonyms Antonyms

arbitrary

Speech parts

1. arbitrary - Noun

2. arbitrary - Adjective

Meaning

Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment.

Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power.

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

Source: Webster's dictionary

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Phrases with the word

Examples

All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values. Marshall McLuhan

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. George Washington

The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired. Stephen Hawking

It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age. Margaret Mead

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place. Margaret Mead

Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. John Adams

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