arbitrary Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice
    • an arbitrary decision
    • the arbitrary rule of a dictator
    • an arbitrary penalty
    • of arbitrary size and shape
    • an arbitrary choice
    • arbitrary division of the group into halves

WordNet

Ar"bi*tra*ry adjective
Etymology
L. arbitrarius, fr. arbiter: cf. F. arbitraire. See Arbiter.
Definitions
  1. Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment.
    It was wholly arbitrary in them to do so. Jer. Taylor.
    Rank pretends to fix the value of every one, and is the most arbitrary of all things. Landor.
  2. Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power.
    Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused licentiousness. Washington.
  3. Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government. Dryden.

Webster 1913