willkürlichen

Willkürlichen is the inflected form of the German adjective willkürlich, which means arbitrary or capricious. The term describes actions, decisions, or procedures that are guided by personal whim, favoritism, or inconsistent reasons rather than by rules, evidence, or legitimate authority. In everyday language it conveys a sense of unfair or unpredictable conduct; in legal and political contexts it signals that something is not justified by law or rational criteria.

Grammatical note: willkürlichen appears in several inflectional patterns. It is common in plural contexts after a definite article, as in Die willkürlichen Entscheidungen der Behörde, meaning the arbitrary decisions of the authorities. It also occurs in singular neuter dative after a definite article, as in Dem willkürlichen Vorgehen, describing the arbitrary proceeding. In other declensions, the form changes (for example, willkürlich in the base form or willkürliche in other cases and numbers), but willkürlichen remains a frequent and recognizable form in legal and formal writing.

Etymology and meaning: The adjective derives from the noun Willkür, meaning arbitrariness or caprice, itself built from Wille (will) and a sense associated with power or choice. The combination expresses action taken by volition without lawful or rational constraints. In German-speaking discourse, willkürlich and its inflected forms are often used to critique decisions or policies perceived as outside of formal procedures, the rule of law, or consistent standards.

See also: Willkür, Willkürverbot, Rechtsstaat, Arbitrary power.