Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective: synonym: chance.
- adjective Mathematics & Statistics Of or relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.
- adjective 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.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In mining, the direction of a rake-vein.
- noun 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.
- noun A rush; spurt; gush.
- noun A continuous flow of words; a harangue.
- noun 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.
- noun The distance traversed by a missile; range; reach.
- Proceeding, taken, done, or existing at random; aimless; fortuitous; haphazard; casual.
- noun Something done or produced without definite method, or with irregular or haphazard effect.
- noun In dyeing, clouded yarn. See
random yarn , under I.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Force; violence.
- noun 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. - noun Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach.
- noun (Mining) The direction of a rake-vein.
- adjective 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.
- adjective (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.
- adjective (Construction) of unequal size or shape; made from components of unequal size or shape.
- adjective in a manner so that all possible results have an equal probability of occurrence; for processes, each possible result is counted separately although the same type of result may occur more than once .
- adjective (Masonry) courses of stone of unequal thickness.
- adjective a shot not directed or aimed toward any particular object, or a shot with the muzzle of the gun much elevated.
- adjective (Masonry) stonework consisting of stones of unequal sizes fitted together, but not in courses nor always with flat beds.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Having
unpredictable outcomes and, in theideal case, all outcomesequally probable ; resulting from such selection; lackingstatistical correlation . - adjective mathematics Of or relating to
probability distribution . - adjective computing
Pseudorandom in contrast totruly random; mimicking the result of random selection. - adjective
Representative andundistinguished ;typical andaverage ; selected for no particular reason. - adjective
Apropos of nothing; lackingcontext ;unexpected ; having apparent lack of plan, cause, or reason. - adjective colloquial Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using
non sequiturs .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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And the only choice other than random is *not random*.
Kicking the Legs Out From Under the Willfully Ignorant « Whatever
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( "UPDATE login SET random = $random WHERE id = $id"
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He said the sector remains too focused on charity -- what I call random acts of kindness -- rather than strategic investments.
Akhtar Badshah: Philanthropy on Trial: Is the Impact on Society Justifiable?
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"Mortgage rates follow what we call a random walk, and don't bounce back from lows like most people assume," he says.
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He said the sector remains too focused on charity -- what I call random acts of kindness -- rather than strategic investments.
Akhtar Badshah: Philanthropy on Trial: Is the Impact on Society Justifiable?
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Just hanging out and what we call random hallway parties.
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SARAH TEALE, FILMMAKER, "DEALING DOGS": A class-B dealer is someone who deals with what they call random-source dogs.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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