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Arbitrary vs Displacement - What's the difference?

arbitrary | displacement |

As nouns the difference between arbitrary and displacement

is that arbitrary is anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee while displacement is the act of displacing, or the state of being displaced; a putting out of place.

As an adjective arbitrary

is (usually|of a decision) based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random.

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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    displacement

    English

    (Webster 1913)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of displacing, or the state of being displaced; a putting out of place.
  • * (rfdate)
    • Unnecessary displacement of funds.
  • * (rfdate) .
    • The displacement of the sun by parallax.
  • The quantity of anything, as water, displaced by a floating body, as by a ship, the weight of the displaced liquid being equal to that of the displacing body.
  • (chemistry) The process of extracting soluble substances from organic material and the like, whereby a quantity of saturated solvent is displaced, or removed, for another quantity of the solvent.
  • (fencing) Moving the target to avoid an attack; dodging.
  • (physics) A vector quantity which denotes distance with a directional component.
  • (grammar)

    • See also

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