arbitrary
/ˈɑɹ.bɪˌtɹɛɹ.i/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.85 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.
adj
adj
Not representative or symbolic; not iconic.
noun
Anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.
Example Sentences
- "Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary."
- "The decision to use 18 years as the legal age of adulthood was arbitrary, as both age 17 and 19 were reasonable alternatives."
- "1937/1938, Albert Einstein, letter to Max Born The Russian trials were Stalin's purges, with which he attempted to consolidate his power. Like most people in the West, I believed these show trials to be the arbitrary acts of a cruel dictator."
- "The bromide conforms to everything sanctioned by the majority, and may be depended upon to be trite, banal, and arbitrary."
- "The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x."
- "And in this long chain of consistence, a chain stretching from the long dead to the far unborn, the notion of the arbitrary could only survive as the notion of a pre-established arbitrary."
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin arbiter Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -ārius Latin arbitrāriusder. Middle English arbitrarie English arbitrary From Middle English arbitrarie, Latin arbitrārius (“arbitrary, uncertain”), from arbiter (“witness, on-looker, listener, judge, overseer”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: arbitrarie, arbitrārius
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɑɹ.bɪˌtɹɛɹ.i/
- British English: /ˈɑː.bɪ.tɹə.ɹi/