The quality of being based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system. The arbitrariness of the decision left many employees feeling frustrated and confused.
The exercise or application of power or judgment that is unrestrained, unpredictable, or based solely on personal will. Human rights groups condemned the arbitrariness of the curfew imposed by the military authorities.
In linguistics, the absence of any natural or necessary connection between a linguistic sign and its meaning. Structuralist theories highlight the arbitrariness of the word "tree" in relation to the object it denotes.