arbitraryadjective
uk/ˈɑː.bɪ.trər.i/us/ˈɑːr.bə.trer.i/arbitrary adjective (CHANCE)
C2 based on chance rather than being planned or based on reason:
arbitrary decision-making
Did you have a reason for choosing your destination or was it arbitrary?
More examples
- Why did they cut your job and not mine? It seems to have been purely arbitrary.
- He played a few arbitrary notes on the piano, to try it out.
- I thought it was just an arbitrary arrangement of chairs - I didn't realize it was an art exhibit!
- The garden isn't planned at all - we tend to just plant things in an arbitrary way.
- The refugees were found during an arbitrary vehicle check at the ferry port.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Chance and randomness
- accident
- as luck would have it idiom
- be the luck of the draw idiom
- casual
- chance
- circumstance
- haphazard
- happen
- happenstance
- harum-scarum
- hit-and-miss
- lottery
- more by accident than design idiom
- more by luck than judgment idiom
- one in a million idiom
- postcode lottery
- pot luck
- serendipity
- stochastic
- stumble into sth
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arbitrary adjective (UNFAIR)
disapproving using unlimited personal power without considering other people's wishes:
an arbitrary ruler
The company has been the subject of an arbitrary take-over.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Unfairness and favouring someone unfairly
- ableism
- be a bit much idiom
- bias
- biased
- blue-eyed boy
- ghettoize
- hate crime
- inequitable
- inequity
- injustice
- prejudicial
- sexism
- sexist
- shortchange
- slant
- unfair
- unjust
- unprovoked
- unsportsmanlike
- you're having a laugh idiom
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arbitrarily
adverb uk/ˌɑː.bɪˈtreə.rəl.i/us/ˌɑːr.bəˈtrer.əl.i/
We made the decision to go to Italy quite arbitrarily.
arbitrariness
noun [ U ] uk/ˈɑː.bɪ.trər.i.nəs/us/ˈɑːr.bə.trer.i.nəs/