| Library / English Dictionary |
ARBITRARY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice
Example:
arbitrary division of the group into halves
Classified under:
Similar:
absolute (not limited by law)
capricious; impulsive; whimsical (determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason)
discretional; discretionary (having or using the ability to act or decide according to your own discretion or judgment)
Antonym:
nonarbitrary (not subject to individual determination)
Derivation:
arbitrariness (the trait of acting unpredictably and more from whim or caprice than from reason or judgment)
Context examples:
An arbitrary unit of substance concentration equal to the concentration at which one milliliter of mixture contains one million units of a substance.
(Million Units per Milliliter, NCI Thesaurus)
An arbitrary unit of substance content expressed in nanounit(s) per centiliter.
(Nanounit Per Centiliter, NCI Thesaurus)
An arbitrary unit of substance concentration equal to the concentration at which one milliliter of mixture contains one millionth of a unit of a substance.
(Microunit per Milliliter, NCI Thesaurus)
Those in the mouse taxonomy are currently arbitrary, and the biologic significance of extent of invasion remains to be established.
(Microinvasive Carcinoma of the Mouse Prostate Gland, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)
An arbitrary unit of substance concentration equal to the concentration at which one liter of mixture contains one thousand units of a substance.
(Kilounit per Liter, NCI Thesaurus)
Unit of arbitrary substance concentration (biologic activity concentration) defined as the concentration of one millionth of international unit per one milliliter of system volume.
(Microinternational Unit per Milliliter, NCI Thesaurus)
An arbitrary unit of substance content expressed in international units of biological activity per one kilogram of mass of the system.
(International Unit per Kilogram, NCI Thesaurus)
Unit of arbitrary substance concentration (biologic activity concentration) defined as the concentration of one international unit per one gram of substance.
(International Unit per Gram, NCI Thesaurus)
Visual stimuli included objects that have a characteristic color (oranges, strawberries, tomatoes), objects with arbitrary color (Legos, toy cars), and in-person actors representing a diversity of skin colors.
(Rosy health and sickly green: color associations play robust role in reading faces, National Institutes of Health)
Edmund! True, I believe he is, generally speaking, kind to her, and so is Sir Thomas in his way; but it is the way of a rich, superior, long-worded, arbitrary uncle.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
