Spell Bee Word: Arbitrary

What does arbitrary mean?

Word: Arbitrary

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Arbitrary means decided by chance or by someone's wish, not by a reason or a fair rule.

Synonyms: random, whimsical, unreasoned

Antonyms: reasoned, logical

How do you spell arbitrary?

Syllables: ar - bi - tra - ry

Tricky part: There are three r's: ar, tr and ry. People often drop the middle one and write arbitary.

Watch out for: arbitary, arbitrery, arbritrary

Memory tip: Count the r's as you write: one in ar, one in tra and one in ry.

Arbitrary in a sentence

Example 1: The referee's decision seemed arbitrary to the fans.

Example 2: Choosing the team by drawing names felt arbitrary but fair.

Example 3: The landlord made an arbitrary rule about guests.

Fun Fact

Arbitrary comes from Latin arbiter, a judge: it first meant left to a judge's own choice.

Practise the CREST Way

Word Connection

Choose the antonym of the word:

arbitrary

a) systematic
b) careless
c) sudden
d) unplanned

Word Cookie

Find the misspelt word in the sentence:

The new rule seemed arbetrary to the players, because nobody explained why it was made.

a) explained
b) rule
c) arbetrary
d) players

Mingle-Mangle

Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:

rytaribar

a) arbitrate
b) barbarity
c) tributary
d) arbitrary

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is an arbitrary way to pick a class monitor?

a) picking whoever wears blue today
b) taking turns in roll-number order
c) holding a fair class vote
d) choosing by best attendance

2. In maths, 'choose an arbitrary number' means choose ____.

a) only an even number
b) the largest number
c) a number above ten
d) any number you like