Difference between Arbitrary and Capricious

ARBITRARY vs CAPRICIOUS: ADJECTIVE

Determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle.
Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference.
Relating to a decision made by a court or legislature that lacks a grounding in law or fact.
Not limited by law; despotic.
Depending on will or discretion; not governed by any fixed rules
Exercised according to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power.
Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical.
Based on or subject to individual discretion or preference or sometimes impulse or caprice
One to which any value can be assigned at pleasure.
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.
Any and all possible.
Determined by independent arbiter.
A quantity of function that is introduced into the solution of a problem, and to which any value or form may at will be given, so that the solution may be made to meet special requirements.

Changeable
Determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by necessity or reason
Characterized by, arising from, or subject to caprice; impulsive or unpredictable.
Governed or characterized by caprice; apt to change suddenly; freakish; whimsical; changeable.
Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by chance, impulse, or whim

Not regulated by fixed rule or law; determinable as occasion arises; subject to individual will or judgment; discretionary.
In law, properly determinable by the choice or pleasure of a tribunal, as distinguished from that which should be determined according to settled rules or the relative rights or equities of the parties.
Uncontrolled by law; using or abusing unlimited power; despotic; tyrannical.
Not characterized by or manifesting any overruling principle; fixed, determined, or performed at will; independent of rule or control.
Ungoverned by reason; hence, capricious; uncertain; unreasonable; varying; changeful: as, an arbitrary character.

Synonyms Freakish, unsteady, fanciful, whimsical, fitful, crotchety, uncertain.
Characterized by caprice; apt to change opinions suddenly, or to deviate from one's purpose; unsteady; changeable; fickle; subject to change or irregularity: as, a man of a capricious temper.

Perverse, Subjective, Indiscriminate, Unfair, Unwarranted, Unjustifiable, Unjust, Unjustified, Unreasonable, Absolute, Whimsical, Discretionary, Impulsive, Discretional, Capricious

Skittish, Tricky, Wayward, Spoiled, Random, Cranky, Fanciful, Indiscriminate, Temperamental, Arbitrariness, Freakish, Whimsical, Impulsive, Unpredictable, Arbitrary

Perverse, Subjective, Indiscriminate, Unfair, Unwarranted, Unjustifiable, Unjust, Unjustified, Unreasonable, Absolute, Whimsical, Discretionary, Impulsive, Discretional, Capricious

Spoilt, Skittish, Tricky, Wayward, Spoiled, Random, Cranky, Fanciful, Indiscriminate, Temperamental, Freakish, Whimsical, Impulsive, Unpredictable, Arbitrary

But some guests consider the refund conditions arbitrary.
Tribe contends, its action was arbitrary and capricious.
Allows data frames to contain an arbitrary number of bits and allows character codes with an arbitrary number of bits per character.
Third, any legislation will require this committee or any other to draw arbitrary lines, but some arbitrary lines are better or worse than others.
Instead it encompasses the right to benefit from freedoms such as arbitrary destruction, arbitrary interference and the freedom to choose where to live.
While the formula is arbitrary it relates to economic reality, and any allocation is arbitrary in the absence of comparables.
It need not separate them in the arbitrary way I have, or invoke them in my arbitrary order.
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that his detention was arbitrary and violated international law.
Assume that the new box is a cavity with arbitrary shape, whose walls have an arbitrary emissivity.
Arbitrary items Two arbitrary parameters can be registered.