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"

Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules; as, an arbitrary decision; an arbitrary punishment.

Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power.

Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government.

Not fixed by rule or law; capricious; unreasonable; despotic.

Arbitrarily.

Depending on the will ( as of an arbiter): not bound by rules: despotic: absolute.

ARBITRARINESS.

Dictated by will; despotic.

Fixed, made, or done capriciously; absolute; despotic.

Determined solely by one's own judgment or good pleasure; exercised according to one's own discretion; subject to the will or control of no other; absolute; despotic; capricious.

Despotic; tyrannical; guided by will only.

His parents, both poor musicians,- the mother a singer- died while he was yet a baby, and he was left to the care of an arbitrary uncle who resolved to make a priest of him. – Youth and the Bright Medusa by Willa Cather

It was designed originally to secure a person from being detained in prison without due process of law, and it served as a mighty check upon arbitrary power. – Studies in Civics by James T. McCleary

The fact that the Commission had filed no report in September, the generous increase in salaries of its deputies, alleged instances of arbitrary conduct of its representatives, resulted in a resolution being introduced by Assemblyman Harry Polsley, demanding that the Commission be made the subject of legislative inquiry. – Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909 by Franklin Hichborn

Neither was of the least consequence, as the new line was conventional and arbitrary; but the discoveries caused a great deal of unreasonable excitement. – Daniel Webster by Henry Cabot Lodge

As for Butcher Donnan himself, as soon as he got over dwelling upon the thrashing he meant to give Nipper when he caught him, the outlines of a broader, farther reaching, less arbitrary settlement began to form themselves in his mind. – Sweethearts at Home by S. R. Crockett

The demands of Napoleon, arbitrary and oppressive as they were, by no means expressed his full intentions towards Portugal. – History of Modern Europe 1792-1878 by C. A. Fyffe

This assertion was arbitrary, because we have just as much right to admit the existence of a human organism, not subject to observation, as we have to admit the existence of any other invisible, fantastic being. – On the Significance of Science and Art from What to Do? by Count Lyof N. Tolstoi

" Filial duty is a pretty arbitrary thing when a man who can really think looks into it. – The Son of his Father by Ridgwell Cullum

A noise was made of arbitrary sway; But, in revenge, you whigs have found a way An arbitrary duty now to pay. – The Works Of John Dryden, Vol. 7 (of 18) The Duke of Guise; Albion and Albanius; Don Sebastian by John Dryden

At meal times, the men would file in and take their places at the tables; anon, the meal over, they would rise and file out- men whom I knew, creatures like myself, slaves of an arbitrary power acting in accordance with principles long since known to be false and mischievous. – The Subterranean Brotherhood by Julian Hawthorne

Truly etiquette is a curious and arbitrary thing, and differs in every country. – Manners and Social Usages by Mrs. John M. E. W. Sherwood

The interest of the house must decide, not the arbitrary inclination of the individual. – The Origin of the Family Private Property and the State by Frederick Engels

This was no arbitrary punishment, but the natural consequence. – Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors by James Freeman Clarke

The division into chapters is partly arbitrary, although the periods indicated are quite clearly marked by the different directions which Professor Dewey's interests took from time to time. – John Dewey's logical theory by Delton Thomas Howard

But it is quite arbitrary thus to conceive the Ego as the sole type of substance. – Ontology or the Theory of Being by Peter Coffey

With regard to the others, who have been sent home, we have only very vague particulars, and the interpretation of their condition is quite arbitrary. – Mentally Defective Children by Alfred Binet Théodore Simon

True punishment is never arbitrary nor vindictive. – The Eliminator; or, Skeleton Keys to Sacerdotal Secrets by Richard B. Westbrook

Its arrangement, of course, is altogether arbitrary, and cannot admit of any theory. – The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown

In some things method is arbitrary, and it matters not which go before, or which follow after, but here they become essential, and so a great part of the matter itself. – The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

However arbitrary may be the use or application of words, their connexion with ideas is so necessary, that they cannot be words without it. – The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown