This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn more

Another word for arbitrary

a-z
Adjective

  1. Determined or marked by whim or caprice rather than reason

    See also:

    surprise

  2. Based on individual judgment or discretion

    See also:

    surprise

    opinion

  3. Having and exercising complete political power and control

    See also:

    politics

    over

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for arbitrary

Modifier

  1. Capricious; said of people

    Antonyms:

  2. Without adequate determining principle: said of actions or ideas

    Antonyms:

  3. Despotic

    See also:

    dogmatic

    See syn. study at

    autocratic

    absolute

© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • The committee had arbitrary rules.

  • The assumption was arbitrary, based on no valid evidence.

  • The situation was exploited by attackers to access sensitive information and to run arbitrary code on an affected machine.

  • The system was exploited by attackers to access sensitive information or run arbitrary code on an affected machine.

  • Authoritarian parents may not understand the reasons behind the rules they make or communicate these underlying reasons to their children, making their commands seem arbitrary to their children.

More sentences →

Words that mention arbitrary in the Dictionary

Words near arbitrary in the Thesaurus