Word.ws English Dictionary

Arrow's theorem

Arrow's theorem proper noun: a theorem stating that no voting system can be perfectly fair in all circumstances. Specifically, when voters have three or more distinct alternatives, no ranked voting electoral system can convert the ranked preferences of individuals into a community-wide (complete and transitive) ranking while also meeting the specified set of criteria: unrestricted domain, non-dictatorship, Pareto efficiency, and independence of irrelevant alternatives.

Proper noun

Arrow's theorem

  1. A theorem stating that no voting system can be perfectly fair in all circumstances. Specifically, when voters have three or more distinct alternatives, no ranked voting electoral system can convert the ranked preferences of individuals into a community-wide (complete and transitive) ranking while also meeting the specified set of criteria: unrestricted domain, non-dictatorship, Pareto efficiency, and independence of irrelevant alternatives.

Origin of Arrow's theorem

Named after economist Kenneth Arrow, who demonstrated the theorem in his doctoral thesis and popularized it in his 1951 book Social Choice and Individual Values.

Questions about Arrow's theorem

What does Arrow's theorem mean?
Arrow's theorem means a theorem stating that no voting system can be perfectly fair in all circumstances. Specifically, when voters have three or more distinct alternatives, no ranked voting electoral system can convert the ranked preferences of individuals into a community-wide (complete and transitive) ranking while also meeting the specified set of criteria: unrestricted domain, non-dictatorship, Pareto efficiency, and independence of irrelevant alternatives.
What part of speech is Arrow's theorem?
Arrow's theorem is a proper noun.

Words near Arrow's theorem in the dictionary

  1. arrow switches
  2. Arrow with Weethley
  3. arrow worm
  4. arrow worms
  5. Arrow's paradox
  6. Arrow's theorem
  7. arrow-finger
  8. arrow-fingers
  9. arrow-head
  10. arrow-heads
  11. arrow-hole

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Arrow's theorem (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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