| 1 |
[ adjective ] based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice
Examples "an arbitrary decision" "the arbitrary rule of a dictator" "an arbitrary penalty" "of arbitrary size and shape" "an arbitrary choice" Used in print ([Anonymous,] "The Attack on Employee Services"...)Is an arbitrary retirement age of 65 actually costing your plant money ? (Newton Stallknecht, "Ideas and Literature," in Newton S...)It is true that this distinction between style and idea often approaches the arbitrary since in_the_end we must admit that style and content frequently influence or interpenetrate one another and sometimes appear as expressions of the same insight . (Raymond J. Corsini et al., Roleplaying in Business...)On being criticized for his arbitrary behavior - he answered : `` I have to make decisions . (A.L. Kroeber, "Semantic Contribution of Lexicostatistic...)While the particular limits of these groupings may seem artificially arbitrary ; they do fairly express a corresponding grouping of more variable material , and they eventuate also in five classes , along a similar scale , containing approximately equal numbers of cases , namely 19 , 14 , 15 , 11 , 12 in Athabascan . (Frances and Richard Lockridge, Murder Has...)Only those actually with Payne when he was shot , or who had left the party within not more_than five minutes ( make five arbitrary ) positively had none . Related terms |
| * |
|