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arbitrary English

Meaning arbitrary meaning

What does arbitrary mean?
Definitions in simple English

arbitrary

If a rule, decision, or act is arbitrary, there is no logical reason for it. You are protected from arbitrary arrest by police.

arbitrary

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

Synonyms arbitrary synonyms

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Topics arbitrary topics

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Examples arbitrary examples

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Simple sentences

My mother prefers the arbitrary selection of the lottery machines over my lucky numbers.
Our decision to go to Portugal was quite arbitrary.
Lemma 5 cannot be generalized to arbitrary artinian rings.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Godwin's law teaches us that any infinite discussion about an arbitrary subject converges to a Nazi comparison.
Would it be better if numbers were completely arbitrary and had no emotional associations?
The nuances of a language may seem arbitrary to someone learning the language, but to a native speaker, they make perfect sense.
Nowhere but in the world of the antique is it more obvious that many of the things that we, as individuals hold dear, are completely arbitrary.

Movie subtitles

Arbitrary forces. Too much of either will destroy us all.
You're too arbitrary, commander.
I resent the chair's arbitrary attempt to silence cross-examination. that'll show this man's true intent.
Aren't you being rather arbitrary?
It's not an arbitrary decision on my part, sir. I have my orders.
Arbitrary sequestration.
Admiral, I wish to state for the record that your decision is completely arbitrary.
I have the great honour to inform you, that you have been unanimously elected as President of our Fellowship Arbitrary Court. Do you accept?
We could accuse you of arbitrary arrest.
This whole thing is an arbitrary attack on a legitimate businessman.
If it is purely arbitrary, it may be impossible to solve.
I cannot believe this was an arbitrary attack.
I mean, they're just some weird, arbitrary reference points that can't measure what a person really knows.
It seems like such an arbitrary, ridiculous thing to just pick a finger and you show it to the person.
Arbitrary forces.
You don't think that's a little arbitrary?
What right have you to make this arbitrary decision?
While you try to find García, make an arbitrary arrest.
If you won't be so arbitrary.
Granny did love her arbitrary goat.
Her arbitrary goat.
One-two, one-two, her arbitrary goat!
Look, Mark, I don't want to be arbitrary. about this Hobart business, if you're so set on it.
But that's nonsense, Osborne. That's not the point. The deaths of Morten and Robins are very unfortunate, but those arbitrary acts of Wellby could become very unpleasant for us.
I've been trying to settle it, if you won't be so arbitrary.
I mean both sides are arbitrary conceptions.
Permission denied. Admiral, I wish to state for the record that your decision is completely arbitrary.
Excuse me, but that's arbitrary.
Well, it's arbitrary.
All right, you'll have it. Only none may take arbitrary steps.
Arbitrary?
It's not as arbitrary as yanking a color out of a box.
This would be funny if justice wasn 't this arbitrary.

News and current affairs

What is needed are clear checks on arbitrary rule, and transparency in decision-making.
The protests are clearly the result of ordinary citizens becoming fed up with corruption, the lack of any semblance of rule of law, and arbitrary treatment.
Excluding them from the sphere of beings to whom we owe moral consideration can then seem arbitrary, or just plain wrong.
Instead of enhancing European stability, it will undermine it by dividing Europe into the EU's single market and an economic trading area ruled by arbitrary fiat and decree.
Democracy is stable only when it is accompanied by a wide diffusion of economic power, which gives the citizenry the ability to keep a government from becoming arbitrary and tyrannical.
There have also been extensive beatings and arbitrary detentions.
Moreover, as Russia's political system becomes ever more oppressive, and its legal system ever more arbitrary, rich Russians will be more inclined than they already are to establish a safe base abroad for their wealth and families.
But increasingly arbitrary and nonsensical restrictions are impeding the diffusion of knowledge through personal contact, and choking the global flow of skills and learning.
Allowing the government to decide which opinions are permissible is dangerous not just because it smothers debate, but also because governments can be arbitrary or self-serving.
The response to terrorism should be to reaffirm the value of the rule of law over arbitrary repression, and of the diversity that is the hallmark of Europe's cities, particularly London and Paris, but increasingly many others across the Union.
No more Brussels interference, no more arbitrary rules, no more political judgments-- just plain common sense.
Then, under arbitrary assumptions regarding growth rates, inflation, privatization receipts, and so forth, they compute what primary surpluses are necessary in every year, working backward to the present.
But such apparently attractive strategies aimed at making better people turn out to be exclusionary - and based on rather arbitrary testing.
But the region's protest politics also reflects growing rejection of dictatorship and arbitrary rule.
The colonial powers' arbitrary demarcation of borders lumped together in one state diverse ethnic groups which may have been historical antagonists.
Many are fed up with the arbitrary imposition of trade barriers - affecting goods ranging from chocolate to steel pipes - in their former Soviet markets.
The first consequence of this process has been a transition from legality to arbitrary power.
The top-down hierarchy is autocratic and arbitrary; lower levels have little collaborative input and no right of appeal.
Thus, by focusing on the (arbitrary) date of 2015, we fail to perceive the fundamental change that the MDGs represent.
But they are still our best safeguard against arbitrary rule.
Yet why should the EU's budget calculations place such importance on national accounts, which constitute a set of arbitrary conventions?
Rather, the EU must be able to explain what it truly represents, and these ideals must be reflected in actions that are clear, predictable, and non-arbitrary.
After they finished trading stories of endless red tape and arbitrary government decisions, I asked why they kept investing in Argentina.
The alternative is inconsistent (if not arbitrary) enforcement of the current rules, inducing divisiveness among member states and eventual fragmentation.
In many ways, it has eroded or even eliminated the kind of arbitrary constraints that turned peaceable boys into aggressive men and stuck ambitious girls in low-paying jobs.
It would be a mistake to believe that the deaths of thousands of civilians, along with arbitrary imprisonment and torture, do not contribute to the spread of terror in Iraq.

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