Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective: random movements. See Synonyms at chance.
- adj. Mathematics & Statistics Of or relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.
- adj. Of or relating to an event in which all outcomes are equally likely, as in the testing of a blood sample for the presence of a substance.
- idiom. at random Without a governing design, method, or purpose; unsystematically: chose a card at random from the deck.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A rushing, as of a torrent; an impetuous course; impetuosity; violence; force: especially with great, as in the phrase a great random, with great speed or force.
- n. A rush; spurt; gush.
- n. A continuous flow of words; a harangue.
- n. An indeterminate course or proceeding; hence, lack of direction, rule, or method; haphazard; chance: used only in the phrase at random—that is, in a haphazard, aimless, and purely fortuitous manner.
- n. The distance traversed by a missile; range; reach.
- Proceeding, taken, done, or existing at random; aimless; fortuitous; haphazard; casual.
- n. Something done or produced without definite method, or with irregular or haphazard effect. In masonry, one of a number of dressed stones of irregular or unmatched sizes. See
random stonework , under I. - n. In dyeing, clouded yarn. See random yarn, under I.
- n. In mining, the direction of a rake-vein.
Wiktionary
- adj. Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.
- adj. mathematics Of or relating to probability distribution.
- adj. computing Pseudorandom in contrast to truly random; mimicking the result of random selection.
- adj. Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.
- adj. Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause, or reason.
- adj. colloquial Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete Force; violence.
- n. A roving motion; course without definite direction; want of direction, rule, or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly used in the phrase
at random , that is, without a settled point of direction; at hazard. - n. Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach.
- n. (Mining) The direction of a rake-vein.
- adj. Going at random or by chance; done or made at hazard, or without settled direction, aim, or purpose; hazarded without previous calculation; left to chance; haphazard.
- adj. (Statistics) of, pertaining to, or resulting from a process of selection from a starting set of items, in which the probability of selecting any one object in the starting set is equal to the probability of selecting any other.
- adj. (Construction) of unequal size or shape; made from components of unequal size or shape.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance
Etymologies
- From Middle English raundon, from Old French randon, from randir ("to gallop") ( > French randonnée ("long walk, hike")), from Frankish *rant, *rand ("a running"), from Proto-Germanic *randiō (“a running”), from Proto-Germanic *rinnanan (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *ren- (“to rise; to sink”). See run. (Wiktionary)
- From at random, by chance, at great speed, from Middle English randon, speed, violence, from Old French, from randir, to run, of Germanic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And the only choice other than random is *not random*.”
Kicking the Legs Out From Under the Willfully Ignorant « Whatever
“( "UPDATE login SET random = $random WHERE id = $id”
“He said the sector remains too focused on charity -- what I call random acts of kindness -- rather than strategic investments.”
The Huffington Post: Akhtar Badshah: Philanthropy on Trial: Is the Impact on Society Justifiable?
“Mortgage rates follow what we call a random walk, and don't bounce back from lows like most people assume," he says.”
“Just hanging out and what we call random hallway parties.”
“SARAH TEALE, FILMMAKER, "DEALING DOGS": A class-B dealer is someone who deals with what they call random-source dogs.”
“But, she argues, we can still hold the former group, i.e., that which she calls a random collection of individuals, responsible for the violence done to victims, since, if they had tried, they could have come up with such decision-making procedures themselves.”
“It was not that his spirits were visibly high — he would never, in the concert of pleasure, touch the big drum by so much as a knuckle: he had a mortal dislike to the high, ragged note, to what he called random ravings.”
“It was not that his spirits were visibly high -- he would never, in the concert of pleasure, touch the big drum by so much as a knuckle: he had a mortal dislike to the high, ragged note, to what he called random ravings.”
“The lawmakers said they are concerned about what they call random budget cuts, big raises for some employees, and whether the school is shortchanging its agricultural programs.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘random’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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SCIE - mathematics
The most frequent words in the titles of mathematical books and journals (www.sciencedirect.com)
surface, administration, project, motion, machine, medical, vision, solid, shape, scheme, income, proceed and 205 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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SCIE - statistics
Abbe-Helmert crit..., a priori probability, alphabet, total correlation, three-dimensional..., theoretical frequ..., time reversal test, three-series theorem, theoretical variable, tetrachoric corre..., absolutely unbias..., absolute error and 4171 more...
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webdev
random webdev lingo used primarily in computer programming.
( open list, randomness, technical jargon, geek speak )
more:
ajax, user, admin, frontend, backend, database, sql, protocol, call, dom, layout, ui and 439 more... -
EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
+
2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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captaincloud's list
word up!
shoji, beautiful, delicate, friscalating, neoligism, nature, nurture, random, frisky, love, clouds, word and 3 more...
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Pedantic distinctions
Put the two words next to each other. Pedants of the world pen your pet peeves here!
syntax, grammar, imply, infer, comprise, compose, effect, affect, insure, ensure, uninterested, disinterested and 21 more...
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like words duh
almost-words teens/tweens use --or -- actualy words they use incorrectly
duh, no duh, duh, no duh, gwon, sh'up, nu-uh, iknow-a, no-a, ow-a, yup, s'up, c'moooon and 25 more...
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Realism
Words to describe the art during the Realist movement
reality, harsh, criticizing, working-class, labor, working, organized, status, satire, dark, masses, ordinary and 45 more...
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Wordie Paradox
random, add, mentions, widget_options, test, recent, ¨, biff!, ΒΑ�?Α�?Α, Synonym, cloud, %c3%a5 and 25 more...
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Programming
class, function, method, instance, value, variable, boolean, if, else, while, for, elseif and 95 more...
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Necessary?
"Words are very..."
The above was the original description for this list. Unfortunately, it doesn't convey much about the list contents.
I'm leaving you to draw your own conclusions abo...supererogation, fruitcake, unbeknownst, melifluous, bane, cavy, unnecessary, lyrical, question, undertow, weapon, arduous and 200 more...
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NTB
chaos, Sagittarius, aether, magic, jester, fool, random, delirium, fire, life, cosmic, riddle and 120 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for random.
vanishedone Looking at the other examples, I am struck by how little randomness is in the selection of the 'random, horrific attack' ones. Nov 26, 2009
vanishedone Learn English with Vexamples, and learn about technology at the same time!
Anyway: has anyone yet some across a page with whitespace in the word string while using the Random Word feature, or does it produce only single (and hyphenated) words? I'm beginning to suspect it's restricted in the same manner as Recently Viewed (though given the sheer size of the database now, it'll be hard to tell without confirmation from John & co.); and if it is, then it's clearly inferior to classic Wordie's. Nov 26, 2009
seanahan I have a lot of statistics, but I still find myself using random colloquially to mean a variety of things. Sometimes I refer to things as stochastic just to mix it up. Sep 17, 2009
thesaraheffect one of the most misused words in my experience, right up there with peruse: "OMG, why would you say that? You are so random, Sarah!"
(No, actually I said that on purpose.)
"Have you heard of this wordie site? Yeah, it's this great site that I randomly found when I googled 'wordie' the other day!"
(Randomly, really?) Sep 17, 2009
PossibleUnderscore Summed up in two words: cow poo. Jul 18, 2009
plethora Pfft!
Noone says "like, wow."
:P Oct 1, 2008
dontcry Let's keep a good thought. Oct 1, 2008
dhuber Way, way too much, "like wow! That was random..." going around these days. Though, thankfully, it seems to be a dying trend. Oct 1, 2008
Prolagus New Wordies might be confused by this conversation, so the official Wordie historian will now explain that
in the past, the random feature URI was http://wordie.org/words/random, i.e. the same as this page. Sep 9, 2008
Prolagus wow so I'm here! I feel so alone, though... Jun 13, 2008
bilby Definitely my favourite rhyme for fandom. Jun 12, 2008
kewpid Oh noes, you clicked! What horrors hath thee unleashed? Jun 12, 2008
sonofgroucho Who would have though this word would have generated so much conversation? Nov 11, 2007
jennarenn Oh no, did I delete a good list? I could only find two words, so I decided to chuck it. I'm such a minimalist!
Hee-hee. Oct 9, 2007
seanahan John, I have noticed that every time I fix anything I break three other things. Welcome to software development. Oct 9, 2007
uselessness No prob, at least you're quick to amend. ;-) Also, I saw jennarenn added , and I thought "that's pretty cool." Now I don't want to add it, but it's worthy of a favorite. But that generates a 500 error. :-( Oct 8, 2007
john I unbroke it. Has anyone else noticed that every time I add a new feature, I break three existing ones? Oct 8, 2007
uselessness Oh noes, the random word function done BROKED!! Oct 8, 2007
jennarenn Oh, how cool!!! I'm a big fan of the 'random word' function. :) Most of the words I've found are only listed by one or two people. Jul 11, 2007
reesetee Yeah, that'll happen. :-) Jul 11, 2007
uselessness Hey, that's cool! It's also reassuring to see how many words on the site don't have comments yet, when I start to think we might be running out of stuff to talk about. ;-) Jul 11, 2007
reesetee Thanks, John! I noticed you also expanded our dictionary/reference selection (two Google links!). What fun! Jul 11, 2007
john The kind of word you get when you click here, or on the 'random word' link that's now at the bottom of every page. Jul 11, 2007