Word Meanings - ARBITRARY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

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

Additional info about word: ARBITRARY

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. Arbitrary constant, Arbitrary function , 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 , one to which any value can be assigned at pleasure.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of ARBITRARY)

• Absolute
• Perfect
• complete
• unconditional
• irrelative
• irrespective
• supreme
• despotic
• autocratic
• certain
• authoritative
• unqualified
• unequivocal
• irresponsible
• arbitrary
• Authoritative
• Decisive
• sure
• conclusive
• authentic
• powerful
• firm
• potent
• dictatorial
• imperious
• arrogant
• imperative
• dogmatic
• commanding
• Autocratic
• Independent
• absolute
• Despotic
• domineering
• self-willed
• cruel
• tyrannical
• Dictation
• Imperative

Related words: (words related to ARBITRARY)

• CONCLUSIVELY
  In the way of conclusion; decisively; positively. Burke.
• DOGMATIC
  One of an ancient sect of physicians who went by general principles; -- opposed to the Empiric.
• AUTHENTICITY
  1. The quality of being authentic or of established authority for truth and correctness. 2. Genuineness; the quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original. Note: In later writers, especially those on the evidences of Christianity,
• CONCLUSIVENESS
  The quality of being conclusive; decisiveness.
• PERFECT
  Hermaphrodite; having both stamens and pistils; -- said of flower. Perfect cadence , a complete and satisfactory close in harmony, as upon the tonic preceded by the dominant. -- Perfect chord , a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly
• POWERFUL
  Large; capacious; -- said of veins of ore. Syn. -- Mighty; strong; potent; forcible; efficacious; energetic; intense. -- Pow"er*ful*ly, adv. -- Pow"er*ful*ness, n. (more info) 1. Full of power; capable of producing great effects of any
• SUPREME
  Situated at the highest part or point. The Supreme, the Almighty; God. (more info) above, upper, fr. super above: cf. F. suprême. See Super-, and cf. 1. Highest in authority; holding the highest place in authority, government, or power. He that
• COMMANDING
  1. Exercising authority; actually in command; as, a commanding officer. 2. Fitted to impress or control; as, a commanding look or presence. 3. Exalted; overlooking; having superior strategic advantages; as, a commanding position. Syn.
• ABSOLUTENESS
  The quality of being absolute; independence of everything extraneous; unlimitedness; absolute power; independent reality; positiveness.
• DECISIVE
  1. Having the power or quality of deciding a question or controversy; putting an end to contest or controversy; final; conclusive. "A decisive, irrevocable doom." Bates. "Decisive campaign." Macaulay. "Decisive proof." Hallam. 2. Marked
• IRRELATIVE
  Not relative; without mutual relations; unconnected. -- Ir*rel"a*tive*ly, adv. Irrelative chords , those having no common tone. -- Irrelative repetition , the multiplication of parts that serve for a common purpose, but have no mutual dependence
• COMPLETE
  Having all the parts or organs which belong to it or to the typical form; having calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil. Syn. -- See Whole. (more info) 1. Filled up; with no part or element lacking; free from deficienty; entire; perfect; consummate.
• COMMANDATORY
  Mandatory; as, commandatory authority.
• AUTHENTIC
  Vested with all due formalities, and legally attested. (more info) L. authenticus coming from the real author, of original or firsthand authority, from Gr. sons and perh. orig. from the p. pr. of to be, root as, and meaning the one it really is.
• UNEQUIVOCAL
  Not equivocal; not doubtful; not ambiguous; evident; sincere; plain; as, unequivocal evidence; unequivocal words. -- Un`e*quiv"o*cal*ly, adv. -- Un`e*quiv"o*cal*ness, n.
• COMMANDO
  In South Africa, a military body or command; also, sometimes, an expedition or raid; as, a commando of a hundred Boers. The war bands, called commandos, have played a great part in the . . . military history of the country. James Bryce.
• ARROGANTLY
  In an arrogant manner; with undue pride or self-importance.
• DESPOTIC; DESPOTICAL
  Having the character of, or pertaining to, a despot; absolute in power; possessing and abusing unlimited power; evincing despotism; tyrannical; arbitrary. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Des*pot"ic*al*ness, n.
• DICTATION
  1. The act of dictating; the act or practice of prescribing; also that which is dictated. It affords security against the dictation of laws. Paley. 2. The speaking to, or the giving orders to, in an overbearing manner; authoritative utterance;
• POTENTIAL
  1. Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result; efficacious; influential. "And hath in his effect a voice potential." Shak. 2. Existing in possibility, not in actuality. "A potential hero." Carlyle. Potential existence means merely
• EQUIPOTENTIAL
  Having the same potential. Equipotential surface, a surface for which the potential is for all points of the surface constant. Level surfaces on the earth are equipotential.
• ASCERTAINMENT
  The act of ascertaining; a reducing to certainty; a finding out by investigation; discovery. The positive ascertainment of its limits. Burke.
• OMNIPOTENT
  1. Able in every respect and for every work; unlimited in ability; all-powerful; almighty; as, the Being that can create worlds must be omnipotent. God's will and pleasure and his omnipotent power. Sir T. More. 2. Having unlimited power
• ASCERTAINABLE
  That may be ascertained. -- As`cer*tain"a*ble*ness, n. -- As`cer*tain"a*bly, adv.
• INCOMPLETE
  Wanting any of the usual floral organs; -- said of a flower. Incomplete equation , an equation some of whose terms are wanting; or one in which the coefficient of some one or more of the powers of the unknown quantity is equal to 0. (more info)
• UNCERTAINTY
  1. The quality or state of being uncertain. 2. That which is uncertain; something unknown. Our shepherd's case is every man's case that quits a moral certainty for an uncertainty. L'Estrange.