Arbitrary vs Spontaneous - What's the difference?
arbitrary | spontaneous |
(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.
Self-generated; happening without any apparent external cause.
Done by one's own free choice, or without planning.
proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external or conscious constraint
arising from a momentary impulse
controlled and directed internally; self-active; spontaneous movement characteristic of living things
produced without being planted or without human labor]]; [[endemic, indigenous
Random.
Sudden, without warning.
As adjectives the difference between arbitrary and spontaneous
is that arbitrary is based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random while spontaneous is self-generated; happening without any apparent external cause.As a noun arbitrary
is anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.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
* *spontaneous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- He made a spontaneous offer of help.
- a spontaneous growth of wood