arbiter
Americannoun
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a person empowered to decide matters at issue; judge; umpire.
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a person who has the sole or absolute power of judging or determining.
noun
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a person empowered to judge in a dispute; referee; arbitrator
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a person having complete control of something
Other Word Forms
- superarbiter noun
Etymology
Origin of arbiter
1350–1400; Middle English arbitour, arbitre < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin arbiter
Compare meaning
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To repudiate a doctrine accepted by the nation’s cultural arbiters gets you uninvited to their parties and called a fool.
As with Abu Hamdan’s voice patterns, the arbiter of citizenship is not a passport, ID card or birth certificate but a set of behaviors and attributes classified by a fixed system.
From Salon
As Iran’s spiritual leader and its highest authority, Khamenei, 85, was the ultimate arbiter in state affairs, including the economy, education and defense.
From Los Angeles Times
There have been Protestant churches in particular, and some Catholic churches too, that have been way up front in taking their role as moral arbiters seriously.
From Salon
These purges, analysts say, effectively have transformed the Central Military Commission from a decision-making body into a personal secretariat, cementing Xi as the sole arbiter of military power.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
