Both Uses of
arbitrary
in
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- [3] [3] I fancy his harsh and tyrannical treatment of me might be a means of impressing me with that aversion to arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life.†
*
- I then thought of going to New York, as the nearest place where there was a printer; and I was rather inclin'd to leave Boston when I reflected that I had already made myself a little obnoxious to the governing party, and, from the arbitrary proceedings of the Assembly in my brother's case, it was likely I might, if I stay'd, soon bring myself into scrapes; and farther, that my indiscrete disputations about religion began to make me pointed at with horror by good people as an infidel…†
Definition:
-
(arbitrary) based on chance or impulse (rather than upon reasoning, consistent rules, or a proper sense of fairness)