arbiter — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A person appointed, or chosen, by parties to determine a controversy between them; an arbitrator.

   Examples

   In order to protect individual liberty there must be an arbiter between the governing powers and the governed.

2. A person or object having the power of judging, determining, or ordaining; one whose power of deciding and governing is not limited.

   Usage

   • with-of

   Examples

   Television and film, not Vogue and similar magazines, are the arbiters of fashion.

   The grapholect of Standard English is not the exclusive system that arbiters of cultural purity wish to 'correct' us into believing

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   The dreadnought is the ultimate arbiter of space warfare; millions of tons of metal, ceramic, and polymer dedicated to the projection of firepower against an enemy vessel of like ability. No sane commander would face a dreadnought with anything less than another dreadnought.

3. A component in circuitry that allocates scarce resources.

4. The person who oversees a chess match and ensures the rules are followed.

   Examples

   The arbiter shall use his best judgement when determining the times to be shown on the replacement chess clock.

Verb

1. To act as an arbiter.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

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   Worse, since there was no institution to arbiter disagreements between Parliament and the government, whenever Parliament voted against the government on the smallest issues, coalitions fragmented, and governments had to be recomposed.

Noun

1. someone with the power to settle matters at will

   Synonyms

   supreme authority

   Broader terms

   expert

   Examples

   she was the final arbiter on all matters of fashion

2. someone chosen to judge and decide a disputed issue

   Synonyms

   arbitratorumpire

   Broader terms

   evaluatorjudge

   Examples

   the critic was considered to be an arbiter of modern literature

   the arbitrator's authority derived from the consent of the disputants

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   an umpire was appointed to settle the tax case