Arbitrary vs Casual - What's the difference?
arbitrary | casual |
(usually, of a decision) Based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.
Determined by impulse rather than reason; heavy-handed.
(mathematics) Any and all possible.
Determined by independent arbiter.
Anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.
Happening by chance.
* (Washington Irving)
Coming without regularity; occasional or incidental.
* (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Employed irregularly.
* , chapter=17
, title= Careless.
* 2007 , Nick Holland, The Girl on the Bus (page 117)
Happening or coming to pass without design.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=8 Informal, relaxed.
Designed for informal or everyday use.
(British, NZ) A worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.
A soldier temporarily at a place of duty, usually en route to another place of duty.
(UK) A member of a group of football hooligans who wear expensive designer clothing to avoid police attention; see .
One who receives relief for a night in a parish to which he does not belong; a vagrant.
A player of casual games.
As adjectives the difference between arbitrary and casual
is that arbitrary is (usually|of a decision) based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random while casual is happening by chance.As nouns the difference between arbitrary and casual
is that arbitrary is anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee while casual is (british|nz) a worker who is only working for a company occasionally, not as its permanent employee.arbitrary
English
Adjective
(arbitrariness) (en adjective)- Benjamin Franklin's designation of "positive" and "negative" to different charges was arbitrary . In fact, electrons flow in the opposite direction to conventional current.
- The decision to use 18 years as the legal age of adulthood was arbitrary , as both age 17 and 19 were reasonable alternatives.
- "The Russian trials were Stalin's purges, with which he attempted to consolidate his power. Like most people in the West, I believed these show trials to be the arbitrary acts of a cruel dictator." (
Max Born, Letters to Einstein
)
- The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x.
- To secure food safety, there should first be a national standard to arbitrarily state what is wholesome and what is not; second, the final buyer should know exactly what he is purchasing. (
The World's Work ...: a history of our time
)
Noun
(arbitraries)External links
* *casual
English
Alternative forms
* casuall (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- casual breaks, in the general system
- a constant habit, rather than a casual gesture
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}
- I removed my jacket and threw it casually over the back of the settee.
citation, passage=It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.}}