Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Left to or regulated by one's own discretion or judgment.
  • adjective Available for use as needed or desired.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Left to discretion; limited or restrained only by discretion or judgment: as, an ambassador invested with discretionary powers (that is, empowered to act according to circumstances).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Available at one's discretion; able to be used as one chooses; left to or regulated by one's own discretion or judgment.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having or using the ability to act or decide according to your own discretion or judgment
  • adjective (especially of funds) not earmarked; available for use as needed

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

discretion +‎ -ary (“pertaining to”). Compare French discrétionnaire.

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