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Random
Definitions
- 1 Occurring for no particular reason; haphazard, unpredictable.
"Our city is plagued by random acts of violence."
- 2 Involving an outcome which is impossible to predict, but which may be represented by a probability distribution; in the ideal case, involving outcomes which are equally likely.
"Near-synonyms: aleatory, stochastic"
- 3 Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
"The rand function generates a random number from a seed."
- 4 Selected for no particular reason; arbitrary; unspecified. informal
"A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference."
- 5 Being (part of) a varied, unrelated, and apparently arbitrary collection of things; diverse, heterogeneous. informal
"My notebook has turned into a random collection of thoughts."
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- 6 Apropos of nothing; lacking context, relevance, or any connection to the previous situation; unexpected. informal
"This random guy just came up to me to say that he was a fan of my work."
- 7 Of a person: characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs. informal
"You're so random! I never know what you're going to do next."
- 8 Being out of the ordinary; unusual or unexpected; odd, strange, bizarre. UK, slang
"That's a rather random fact!"
- 1 lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance wordnet
- 1 A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance. countable, uncountable
"Still take advice ; though counsels, when they fly / At random, sometimes hit most happily."
- 2 Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"they were messagers vnto kyng Ban & Bors sent from kynge Arthur / therfor said the viij knyghtes ye shalle dye or be prysoners / for we ben knyghtes of kyng Claudas And therwith two of them dressid theire sperys / and Vlfyus and Brastias dressid theire speres and ranne to gyder with grete raundon"
- 3 The full range of a bullet or other projectile; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare the marke, and 120 is their best at Random."
- 4 An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence. colloquial, countable, figuratively, uncountable
"The party was boring. It was full of randoms."
- 5 The direction of a rake-vein. countable, uncountable
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- 6 A frame for composing type. countable, historical, uncountable
"Utilization of all floor space underneath case racks and randoms is another feature of the modern composing room; […]"
- 1 To wander; to stray; to meander. intransitive, uncommon
Etymology
From earlier randon, from Middle English randoun, raundon, from Old French randon, from randir (“to run, gallop”) (whence French randonnée (“long walk, hike”)), from Frankish *randiju (“a run, race”) or Old Norse rend (“a run, race”), both from Proto-Germanic *randijō, from *rinnaną (“run”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw- (“to flow, move, run”). Cognate with Middle Low German uprinden (“to jump up”), Danish rende (“to run”). See run.
From earlier randon, from Middle English randoun, raundon, from Old French randon, from randir (“to run, gallop”) (whence French randonnée (“long walk, hike”)), from Frankish *randiju (“a run, race”) or Old Norse rend (“a run, race”), both from Proto-Germanic *randijō, from *rinnaną (“run”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw- (“to flow, move, run”). Cognate with Middle Low German uprinden (“to jump up”), Danish rende (“to run”). See run.
From earlier randon, from Middle English randoun, raundon, from Old French randon, from randir (“to run, gallop”) (whence French randonnée (“long walk, hike”)), from Frankish *randiju (“a run, race”) or Old Norse rend (“a run, race”), both from Proto-Germanic *randijō, from *rinnaną (“run”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw- (“to flow, move, run”). Cognate with Middle Low German uprinden (“to jump up”), Danish rende (“to run”). See run.
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