Uncertain vs Arbitrary - What's the difference?
uncertain | arbitrary | Related terms |
Not certain; unsure.
*(John Tillotson) (1630-1694)
*:Man, without the protection of a superior Being,is uncertain of everything that he hopes for.
Not known for certain; questionable.
:
Not yet determined; undecided.
Variable and subject to change.
Fitful or unsteady.
*
*:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
Unpredictable or capricious.
*Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
*:O woman! in our hours of ease, / Uncertain , coy, and hard to please!
(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.
Uncertain is a related term of arbitrary.
As adjectives the difference between uncertain and arbitrary
is that uncertain is not certain; unsure 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.uncertain
English
Adjective
(en adjective)Antonyms
* certainAnagrams
* *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
)