ar•bi•trar•y
Pronunciation: (är'bi-trer"ē), [key]
— adj., n., pl. -trar•ies.
—adj.
- subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one's discretion: an arbitrary decision.
- decided by a judge or arbiter rather than by a law or statute.
- having unlimited power; uncontrolled or unrestricted by law; despotic; tyrannical: an arbitrary government.
- capricious; unreasonable; unsupported: an arbitrary demand for payment.
- undetermined; not assigned a specific value: an arbitrary constant.
—n.
- Print. (in Britain) peculiar (def. 9).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.