arbitrary

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

adjective based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice

From Middle English arbitrarie, Latin arbitrārius (“arbitrary, uncertain”), from arbiter (“witness, on-looker, listener, judge, overseer”).

It is an arbitrary measure. — Practical Mechanics for Boys, James Slough Zerbe
This leaves nothing to arbitrary decision. — Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne
Mining laws are very arbitrary and strictly enforced. — A Woman who went to Alaska, May Kellogg Sullivan

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