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Fitful vs Arbitrary - What's the difference?

fitful | arbitrary | Related terms |

Fitful is a related term of arbitrary.


As adjectives the difference between fitful and arbitrary

is that fitful is irregular; unsteady; characterized by fits while arbitrary is (usually|of a decision) based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.

As a noun arbitrary is

anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.

fitful

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Irregular; unsteady; characterized by fits.
    • His breathing was fitful .
  • *1605 , Shakespeare, Macbeth ,
    • [...] Duncan is in his grave;
    After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;
  • *1851 ,
  • *:The cabin lamp—taking long swings this way and that— was burning fitfully, and casting fitful shadows upon the old man’s bolted door [...]
  • *2012 , The Economist, The economy: Don’t say “green shoots”
  • *:So fitful has Britain’s economy been that any good news is understandably snatched at.

    • Derived terms

    * fitfully * fitfulness

    arbitrary

    English

    Adjective

    (arbitrariness) (en adjective)
  • (usually, of a decision) 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 . 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.
  • Determined by impulse rather than reason; heavy-handed.
    • "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)
  • (mathematics) Any and all possible.
    • The equation is true for an arbitrary value of x.
  • Determined by independent arbiter.
    • 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)

    Related terms

    * arbit * arbiter * arbitrable * arbitrage * arbitrarily * arbitrariness * arbitrary and capricious * arbitrate * arbitration * arbitrator

    Noun

    (arbitraries)
  • Anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.

    • External links

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