Etymologically
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arbitrary

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 16:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɑː.bɪ.tɹə.ɹi/, /ˈɑː.bɪ.tɹi/ (UK); /ˈɑɹ.bɪˌtɹɛɹ.i/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English arbitrarie, perhaps through Old French arbitraire, from Latin arbitrārius (“of arbitration, not fixed by law”),[2][3][4][5] from arbiter (“judge, umpire”) (see arbiter).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Depending on one's own discretion, of an authority or government: before 1400 in Barnhart, about 1400 in Etymonline.[2][3] The New Oxford gives the late Middle English sense, discretionary.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Latin legal language arbitrarius was opposed to certus, fixed, and came to mean uncertain.[3] The legal sense, at the discretion of an arbitrator, is in English by the 1580s (1581).[3][6] Derived from mere opinion, not based on reason, and uncontrolled, despotic, as in arbitrary government, are from the 1640s.[3][6] In mathematics an arbitrary constant has no specific value.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1400 – discretionary.[2]
  • 1574 – at one's pleasure.[6]
  • 1581 – at an arbiter's discretion.[6]
  • 1640s – capricious; despotic.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Based on chance or personal whim rather than reason or system; capricious.
  2. Using power without restraint; despotic.
  3. (mathematics) Not representing a specific value.
  4. (law) Left to the judgement of a court rather than fixed by statute.

Word family

  • arbitrarily
  • arbitrariness
  • nonarbitrary
  • unarbitrary
  • arbiter
  • arbitrable
  • arbitrage
  • arbitrate
  • arbitration
  • arbitrator

Usage notes

In Herefordshire, Kent and Surrey dialect arbitrary (arbitry) meant independent and impatient of restraint, or hard and grasping.[8]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)