[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being arbitrary or uncontrolled in the exercise of will; a. capriciousness; b. despotism.
1643. Herle, Answ. Ferne, 16. He may … governe with the Arbitrarinesse of a Father.
1657. Cromwell, Sp., 21 April (Carl.). The horridest Arbitrariness that ever was exercised in the world.
1750. Carte, Hist. Eng., II. 843. The Arbitrariness of his prosecutions, and the severity of his punishments.
1754. Edwards, Freed. Will, IV. § 7 (1762), 235. Senseless Arbitrariness, determining and acting without Reason, Design, or End.
1846. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., I. II. V. i. § 12. There is, however, a strange arbitrariness about this elongation of reflection.
1853. Bancroft, Hist. U. S. (1876), V. lxvii. 291. The country was outraged by the arbitrariness of the military occupation.
