[ar.bi.trary] adj (15c) 1: depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by law "the manner of punishment is ~"
2. a: not restrained or limited in the exercise of power: ruling by absolute authority "an ~ government" b: marked by or resulting from the unrestrained and often tyrannical exercise of power "protection from ~ arrest and detention" 3 a: based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something "an ~ standard" "take any ~ positive number" "~ division of historical studies into watertight compartments --A. J. Toynbee" b: existing or coming about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will "when a task is not seen in a meaningful context it is experienced as being ~ --Nehemiah Jordan" -- ar.bi.trari.ly adv -- ar.bi.trar.i.ness n