arbiter

plural arbiters

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

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

   1931, William Bennett Munro, The government of the United States, national, state, and local, page 495

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

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

   2 more examples

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

   1993, Gajendra K. Verma, Inequality and teacher education: an international perspective, page 188

   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.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Starships: Dreadnought Codex entry

3. businessA component in circuitry that allocates scarce resources.
4. board gamesThe person who oversees a chess match and ensures the rules are followed.

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

   2014 April 30, Nicolae Sfetcu, The Game of Chess, Nicolae Sfetcu, page 109

present singular third person arbiters · participle present arbitering · participle past arbitered · past arbitered

1. transitiveTo act as an arbiter.

   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.

   2003, Jean-Benoit Nadeau, Julie Barlow, Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't be Wrong: Why We Love France But Not the French, page 116