@David An example that comes to mind is one here on Quora. But I am afraid of it being considered rude to point fingers or maybe myself having a wrong interpretation of the passage/interaction.

@EdwinAshworth Yes but arbitrary and vague are not synonyms.

@BenjaminHarman biology.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3981/… I am afraid that what Bryan said could be correct use of arbitrary or I could be seen as rude to point fingers. In general discussing abstract concepts. And I do not have a laundry list ready to give out. It is not that I browse the internet bookmarking everything that seems weird to ask a question later. KannE gave an example.

@AndrewLeach The point is that if there were clear-cut rules it would obviously be clear; not vague. It would not necessarily be reasoned; not arbitrary. I strongly feel that the word of choice there should be vague. I can come up with a clear-cut rule but unless I explain with did I decide as such it will be arbitrary.

@EdwinAshworth As a student of english as a foreign language my dictionary of choice is Oxford Dictionary of English while for the Internet I use Lexico a collaboration between OUP and Dictionary.com I might use Cambridge Dictionary. I am not browsing some random dictionary. There is no answer "arbitrary and vague are not synonyms". It was a comment. Lexico does not state either one is a synonym of the other. I state my question and I did not mention acceptability. My question was if it is correct not if it is acceptable.

@EdwinAshworth I quote Andrew Leach who also said that Vague and arbitrary are not synonymous. english.stackexchange.com/questions/510882/…

@EdwinAshworth Nonetheless I was the one to ask. Let me decide what is the question I asked do not put words in my mouth(or fingers since we are typing not speaking). The question is not 'Has this sense of 'arbitrary' gained enough currency to be considered acceptable?' but rather "Is this sense of "arbitrary" correct by the standarts of highly esteemed universities like Oxford,Cambridge, Harvard" N.B I do not know if there is a Harvard dictionary of English.

@George What do you want to compare? Dictionary definitions or particular uses of the two words? Whatever it is, edit your question to give the text of either.

@Mitch I want to compare the words themselves(meaning and nuances) and not the more specific usage of the word in a particular instance. Whether or not It is correct to interchange the words. Do Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard dictionaries state strictu sensu they are synonyms?

@DanBron I have not found a dictionary issued by Harvard. And I am not going to look for definitions of the words at any dictionary. 4-14 I studied English at a Language School. You can be sure I will use only the dictonaries with the highest of standarts.

@DanBron Since I cannot find a dictionary issued by Harvard I make do with the ones by Oxford and Cambridge. I said I am not going to look for definitions at any dictionary(probably I should have added indiscriminately), As a foreign language learner I do discriminate; anything other that Oxford and Cambridge are not credible. A Harvard dictionary would be a nice plan c but I have not found one. dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/vague dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/arbitrary Cambridge similarly does not state they are synonyms.

@DanBron my comment was And I am not going to look for definitions of the words at any dictionary. NOT “not looking for any definitions of the words in a dictionary”. I am not going to just use any dictionary indiscriminately. That was my point.

@KannE The problem lies when the people are not young.

@DanBron An explicit confirmation that it is wrong to interchange arbitrary and vague would be nice. Or alternatively I would very much enjoy an explanation why it is correct to interchange them even if going by the book(Oxford or Cambridge english dictionaries since there is no Harvard dictionary). I would like to learn.

@DanBron en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_American_Regional_Englis‌​h Now to look for an online and free version of it.

2) Harvard does not publish and I know of no publisher associated with Harvard that publishes a general dictionary of American English. Harvard is a pretty good school but it is not an arbiter or exemplar of prestige/standard American English.

3) in contrast to the Oxford English Dictionary (which is not the same as Lexico which is a hodgepodge of online dictionaries associated with Oxford, but not of the same (higher) caliber as OED)), the best dictionary of American English is Merriam-Webster. The Dictionary of American Regional English is about rarer words in local dialects that tend not to appear in dictionaries of standard English, so I expect you will not find vague or arbitrary there.

@Mitch the discrepancies in the entries are too evident in both Oxford and Cambridge. About Harvard Dictionary. I have the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary printed. I bought it more than a decade ago when I was still 10-11. Is there any use ordering the Dictionary of American Regional English? Are there any substantial differences in the definitions? Does it use the same formatting that Oxford and Cambridge do with Entries and some definitions or is it about the regional variance and more like a textbook?

@GeorgeNtoulos DARE is a dictionary of regional English, not a general dictionary of the most frequent items of the standard dialect - it contains mostly words not in the standard dictionaries like M-W. DARE is a dictionary (a list of word definitions), not a text book.

Hi @George

Did you need some clarification?

@Mitch If Merriam-Webster is the best in American English I would rather go with Oxford and Cambridge. If Lexico is not good enough because it is a hodgepodge of online dictionaries associated with Oxford. I am choosing cambridge. After all I am a holder of FCE and CPE(my C1 is PTE lvl 4) with a pass with distinction. Exceptional Reading, Use of English, Listening and Speaking with Good-Bordeline Writing. I am supposed to trust the one that certifies I know english.

@Mitch Do you have anything against dictionary.cambridge.org

@Mitch I am quite appalled by the fact that Merriam-Webster is not published by any university or at least hold the name of a professor of english language. Charles Merriam was a professor of politics not english. While George was a Publisher.

@Mitch Thank you earnestly for your edit. Nonetheless I think that english.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/meaning and english.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/expressions are tags also relevant to the core of the question.

@GeorgeNtoulos I don't have anything against the Cambridge online dictionary. When I see its definitions, they seem OK, just like OALD or ODE or whatever the Lexico dictionaries are (it's never clear). But the OED is -way- better. Much clearer definitions, and many more nuances, and many examples.

Your being appalled by M-W is very misguided. The definitions there are written by a set of experienced lexicographers.

You should be appalled at the quality of Cambridge because they are often deficient, despite having a great university in the name.

Lexico is not particularly good quality.

As to those two extra tags, I removed them because everything in language is about meaning, and expression is wrong because an expression is more than oone word long and you're asking about single words.

@Mitch So meaning is too broad to apply? The problem is that I need a source a name to trust. It is written by experienced lexicographers but the title of the dictionary does not bear their names. You can be sure the same lexicographers would be much more diligent much more carefull if they had their names in the title. The founders are dead. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268102000446 It just shows how much anonymity damages the society. Lexico is not OALD or ODE.

@GeorgeNtoulos Yes, 'meaning' is way too broad to apply here.

Lexico is even more anonymous. It's hard to find out exactly where their definitions are from.

OED is the absolute best. They list all their contributors. (maybe not quote by quote, but somewhere on their site is a list of contributors).

I think you're speaking about generalities of prestige of that may be in the greatest generality true, but are not true in the specific case of dictionaries.

@Mitch en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Dictionaries#History In June 2019, the free-of-charge monolingual dictionaries of English and Spanish were moved to Lexico.com, a collaboration between OUP and Dictionary.com. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Advanced_Learner%27s_Dictionary