Entry Word: arbitrary

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 having or showing a tendency to force one's will on others without any regard to fairness or necessity <an arbitrary piano teacher who makes all her students do the same exercises over and over again>

Synonyms dictatorial, high-handed, imperious, peremptory, willful (or wilful)

Related Words arrogant, commanding, demanding, dominant, domineering, haughty, imperative, lordly, masterful, overbearing, presumptuous; authoritarian, autocratic, despotic, totalitarian, tyrannical (also tyrannic), tyrannous; capricious, changeable, erratic, mercurial, whimsical; biased, inequitable, partisan, prejudiced, unequal, unfair, unjust, unreasonable; unconscionable, unethical, unprincipled, unscrupulous

Near Antonyms balanced, disinterested, dispassionate, equal, equitable, evenhanded, fair, impartial, just, nonpartisan, objective; rational, reasonable, understanding; unbiased, unprejudiced; ethical, honorable, irreproachable, law-abiding, moral, principled, unimpeachable

2 lacking a definite plan, purpose, or pattern <the order of the names of the ten semifinalists is entirely arbitrary> — see random