adjective · academic
arbitrary
UK/ˈɑː.bɪ.trər.i/US/ˈɑːr.bɪ.trer.i/AR·bi·tra·ry
Band 7+speakingtask2
based on personal choice or whim rather than any reason or system
Examples
“The committee made an arbitrary decision about admissions.”
“Don't take arbitrary measures without evidence.”
“Arbitrary penalties can harm trust in institutions.”
Band 8 sentence
“The grading criteria must be transparent; otherwise students will perceive the process as arbitrary and lose trust in the system.”
Collocations
- an arbitrary decision
- chosen arbitrarily
- arbitrary rule/limit
Word family
arbitrarily adverbarbitrariness noun
Common mistakes
random→arbitrary
tùy tiện (dùng tùy tiện trong tiếng Anh là 'casual')→arbitrary
Say it for a higher band
5random→6subjective→7+arbitrary
Synonyms
capricious
random
Easily confused
random
“We selected participants at random from the membership list.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Sublist 6
Learn it with its set