Arbitrary vs Chance - What's the difference?
arbitrary | chance | Synonyms |
(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.
(countable) An opportunity or possibility.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Here was my chance . I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.}}
(uncountable) Random occurrence; luck.
(countable) The probability of something happening.
(archaic) To happen by chance, to occur.
* Bible, Deuteronomy xxii. 6
* Shakespeare
* 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
* 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
(archaic) To befall; to happen to.
* 1826 , William Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent
To try or risk.
* W. D. Howells
To discover something by chance.
(rare) Happening]] by [[#Noun, chance, casual.
* 1859 , (Charles Dickens), (A Tale of Two Cities)'', ch. VI, ''The Shoe Maker (Heron Book Centenial Edition)
Arbitrary is a synonym of chance.
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.As a noun arbitrary
is anything arbitrary, such as an arithmetical value or a fee.As a proper noun chance is
, an american pet form of chauncey, in modern usage also associated with the word chance.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
* *chance
English
Alternative forms
* chaunce (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
(Terms derived from the noun "chance") * Buckley's chance * by chance * chance'd be a fine thing * chance fracture * chance-medley * chancer * chances are * chancy * Chinaman's chance * dog's chance * even chance * fair chance * fat chance * fighting chance * first-chance exception * game of chance * half a chance * happy chance * in with a chance * jump at the chance * last chance * last chance saloon * main chance * mum chance * not a chance * off chance/off-chance * outside chance * perchance * slim chance * smart chance * snowball's chance * snowball's chance in hell * sporting chance * stand a chanceVerb
(chanc)- It chanced that I found a solution the very next day.
- if a bird's nest chance to be before thee
- I chanced on this letter.
- Once it chanced that Geoffrey Riddell (Bishop of Ely), a Prelate rather troublesome to (w), made a request of him for timber from his woods towards certain edifices going on at (Glemsford).
- Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."
- Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?
- Come what will, I will chance it.
- He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.
Derived terms
* (l) * * (l)Adjective
(en adjective)- No crowd was about the door; no people were discernible at any of the many windows; not even a chance passer-by was in the street. An unnatural silence and desertion reigned there.