Meanings (ES + gloss)
arbitrario
Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.
Benjamin Franklin's 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.
arbitrario
Determined by impulse rather than reason; often connoting heavy-handedness.
1937/1938, Albert Einstein, letter to Max Born The Russian trials were Stalin's purges, with which he attempted to consolidate his power. Like most people in the West, I believed t…
The bromide conforms to everything sanctioned by the majority, and may be depended upon to be trite, banal, and arbitrary.
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