arbitrary

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: ar=bi=trar=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

arbitrary, a. [L. arbitrarius, fr. arbiter: cf. F. arbitraire. See Arbiter.].

•  Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment.  [1913 Webster]

  "It was wholly arbitrary in them to do so."  [1913 Webster]

  "Rank pretends to fix the value of every one, and is the most arbitrary of all things."  [1913 Webster]
•  Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power.  [1913 Webster]

  "Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused licentiousness."  [1913 Webster]
•  Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government.  [1913 Webster]

Arbitrary constant, Arbitrary function (Math.), a quantity of function that is introduced into the solution of a problem, and to which any value or form may at will be given, so that the solution may be made to meet special requirements. -- Arbitrary quantity (Math.), one to which any value can be assigned at pleasure.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

arbitrary, adj.
1 based on or derived from uninformed opinion or random choice; capricious.
2 despotic.

Derivative

arbitrarily adv. arbitrariness n.

Etymology

L arbitrarius or F arbitraire (as ARBITER, -ARY(1))

THESAURUS

arbitrary

absolute, absolutist, absolutistic, aristocratic, arrogant, autarchic, authoritarian, authoritative, autocratic, autonomous, bossy, capricious, careless, chance, chancy, cranky, crotchety, despotic, dictatorial, discretional, discretionary, dogmatic, domineering, doubtful, elective, erratic, fanciful, fantasied, fantastic, feudal, flaky, freakish, free, free will, gratuitous, grinding, harebrained, heedless, high-handed, humorsome, iffy, imperative, imperial, imperious, impetuous, inadvertent, inconsiderate, inconsistent, independent, indiscreet, irrational, kinky, kooky, lordly, maggoty, magisterial, magistral, masterful, monocratic, moody, motiveless, nonmandatory, notional, offered, oppressive, optional, oracular, overbearing, overruling, peremptory, petulant, precipitate, proffered, quirky, random, rash, reasonless, repressive, screwball, self-acting, self-active, self-determined, self-determining, severe, spontaneous, strict, subjective, summary, suppressive, temperamental, thoughtless, tyrannical, tyrannous, unasked, unbesought, unbidden, uncalculating, uncalled-for, uncertain, uncoerced, uncompelled, uncompromising, unconstrained, undisciplined, unforced, unguarded, uninfluenced, uninvited, unpredictable, unpressured, unprompted, unreasonable, unreasoning, unreflecting, unrequested, unrequired, unrestrained, unruly, unsolicited, unsought, unthinking, unthoughtful, vagarious, vagrant, varying, voluntary, volunteer, wanton, wayward, whimsical, wild, willful, zany

ROGET THESAURUS

arbitrary

Obstinacy

N obstinacy, obstinateness, obstinacy, tenacity, cussedness, perseverance, immovability, old school, inflexibility, obduracy, obduration, dogged resolution, resolution, ruling passion, blind side, self-will, contumacy, perversity, pervicacy, pervicacity, indocility, bigotry, intolerance, dogmatism, opiniatry, opiniativeness, fixed idea, fanaticism, zealotry, infatuation, monomania, opinionatedness opinionativeness, mule, opinionist, opinionatist, opiniator, opinator, stickler, dogmatist, bigot, zealot, enthusiast, fanatic, obstinate, tenacious, stubborn, obdurate, casehardened, inflexible, balky, immovable, unshakable, not to be moved, inert, unchangeable, inexorable, mulish, obstinate as a mule, pig-headed, dogged, sullen, sulky, unmoved, uninfluenced unaffected, willful, self-willed, perverse, resty, restive, restiff, pervicacious, wayward, refractory, unruly, heady, headstrong, entete, contumacious, crossgrained, arbitrary, dogmatic, positive, bigoted, prejudiced, creed- bound, prepossessed, infatuated, stiff-backed, stiff necked, stiff hearted, hard-mouthed, hidebound, unyielding, impervious, impracticable, inpersuasible, unpersuadable, intractable, untractable, incorrigible, deaf to advice, impervious to reason, crotchety, obstinately, non possumus, no surrender, ils n'ont rien appris ne rien oublie.

Caprice

N caprice, fancy, humor, whim, whimsy, whimsey, whimwham, crotchet, capriccio, quirk, freak, maggot, fad, vagary, prank, fit, flimflam, escapade, boutade, wild-goose chase, capriciousness, kink, capricious, erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical, full of whims, maggoty, inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky, particular, humorsome, freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward, contrary, captious, arbitrary, unconformable, penny wise and pound foolish, fickle, frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile, by fits and starts, without rhyme or reason, nil fuit unquain sic inipar sibi, the deuce is in him.

Irrelation

N irrelation, dissociation, misrelation, inapplicability, inconnection, multifariousness, disconnection, inconsequence, independence, incommensurability, irreconcilableness, heterogeneity, unconformity, irrelevancy, impertinence, nihil ad rem, intrusion, non-pertinence, irrelative, irrespective, unrelated, arbitrary, independent, unallied, unconnected, disconnected, adrift, isolated, insular, extraneous, strange, alien, foreign, outlandish, exotic, not comparable, incommensurable, heterogeneous, unconformable, irrelevant, inapplicable, not pertinent, not to the, purpose, impertinent, inapposite, beside the mark, a propos de bottes, aside from the purpose, away from the purpose, foreign to the purpose, beside the purpose, beside the question, beside the transaction, beside the point, misplaced, traveling out of the record, remote, far-fetched, out of the way, forced, neither here nor there, quite another thing, detached, segregate, disquiparant, multifarious, discordant, incidental, parenthetical, obiter dicta, episodic, parenthetically, by the way, by the by, en passant, incidentally, irrespectively, without reference to, without regard to, in the abstract, a se.

Unconformity

N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.

Authority

N authority, influence, patronage, power, preponderance, credit, prestige, prerogative, jurisdiction, right, direction, government, divine right, dynastic rights, authoritativeness, absoluteness, absolutism, despotism, jus nocendi, jus divinum, mastery, mastership, masterdom, dictation, control, hold, grasp, grip, gripe, reach, iron sway, fangs, clutches, talons, rod of empire, commission, deputy, permission, at the head, dominant, paramount, supreme, predominant, preponderant, in the ascendant, influential, arbitrary, compulsory, stringent, at one's command, in one's power, in one's grasp, under control, in the name of, by the authority of, de par le Roi, in virtue of, under the auspices of, in the hands of, at one's pleasure, by a dash if the pen, by a stroke of the pen, ex mero motu, ex cathedra, from the chair, the gray mare the better horse, every inch a king.

Severity

N severity, strictness, harshness, rigor, stringency, austerity, inclemency, arrogance, precisianism, arbitrary power, absolutism, despotism, dictatorship, autocracy, tyranny, domineering, oppression, assumption, usurpation, inquisition, reign of terror, martial law, iron heel, iron rule, iron hand, iron sway, tight grasp, brute force, brute strength, coercion, strong hand, tight hand, hard lines, hard measure, tender mercies, sharp practice, pipe-clay, officialism, tyrant, disciplinarian, precisian, martinet, stickler, bashaw, despot, hard master, Draco, oppressor, inquisitor, extortioner, harpy, vulture, accipitres, birds of prey, raptorials, raptors, severe, strict, hard, harsh, dour, rigid, stiff, stern, rigorous, uncompromising, exacting, exigent, exigeant, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, austere, hard-headed, hard-nosed, hard-shell, relentless, Spartan, Draconian, stringent, strait-laced, searching, unsparing, iron-handed, peremptory, absolute, positive, arbitrary, imperative, coercive, tyrannical, extortionate, grinding, withering, oppressive, inquisitorial, inclement, cruel, haughty, arrogant, precisian, severely, with a high hand, with a strong hand, with a tight hand, with a heavy hand, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi, manu forti, ogni debole ha sempre il suo tiranno.

Illegality

N illegality, lawlessness, illicitness, breach of law, violation of law, infraction of the law, disobedience, unconformity, arbitrariness, antinomy, violence, brute force, despotism, outlawry, mob law, lynch law, club law, Lydford law, martial law, drumhead law, coup d'etat, le droit du plus fort, argumentum baculinum, illegality, informality, unlawfulness, illegitimacy, bar sinister, trover and conversion, smuggling, poaching, simony, outlaw, bad man, v, offend against the law, violate the law, infringe the law, break the law, set the law at defiance, ride roughshod over, drive a coach and six through a statute, ignore the law, make the law a dead letter, take the law into one's own hands, smuggle, run, poach, illegal, unlawful, illegitimate, not allowed, prohibited, illicit, contraband, actionable, unwarranted, unwarrantable, unauthorized, informal, unofficial, injudicial, extrajudicial, lawless, arbitrary, despotic, despotical, corrupt, summary, irresponsible, unanswerable, unaccountable, expired, invalid, unchartered, unconstitutional, null and void, a dead letter, lawless, unregulated, illegally, with a high hand, in violation of law.

Insolence

N insolence, haughtiness, arrogance, airs, overbearance, domineering, tyranny, impertinence, sauciness, flippancy, dicacity, petulance, procacity, bluster, swagger, swaggering, bounce, terrorism, assumption, presumption, beggar on horseback, usurpation, impudence, assurance, audacity, hardihood, front, face, brass, shamelessness, effrontery, hardened front, face of brass, assumption of infallibility, saucebox, insolent, haughty, arrogant, imperious, magisterial, dictatorial, arbitrary, high-handed, high and mighty, contumelious, supercilious, overbearing, intolerant, domineering, overweening, high-flown, flippant, pert, fresh, cavalier, saucy, forward, impertinent, malapert, precocious, assuming, would-be, bumptious, bluff, brazen, shameless, aweless, unblushlng, unabashed, brazen, boldfaced-, barefaced-, brazen-faced, dead to shame, lost to shame, impudent, audacious, presumptuous, free and easy, devil-may-care, rollicking, jaunty, janty, roistering, blustering, hectoring, swaggering, vaporing, thrasonic, fire eating, full of sound and fury, with a high hand, ex cathedra, one's bark being worse than his bite, beggars mounted run their horse to death, quid times? Caesarem vehis, wagahai wa (expressing superiority).