English-Spanish translations for arbitrary

• arbitrario
  No hay fin para este fenómeno arbitrario. There is no end to this arbitrary phenomenon.
  Es un régimen arbitrario, brutal y paranoico. This is an arbitrary, brutal and paranoid regime.
  Todo esto es muy importante, pero también muy arbitrario. This is all very important but also highly arbitrary.

Definition of arbitrary

• Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random
• Determined by impulse rather than reason; heavy-handed
• Any, out of all that are possible
• Determined by independent arbiter
• Anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee

Examples

• Benjamin Franklins designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary
• The decision to use 18 years as the legal age of adulthood was arbitrary, as both age 17 and 19 were reasonable alternatives
• The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x

Related words

• arbitrarily
• arbitrariness
• arbitraryness
• arbitrary unit