random

[ran-duh m] /ˈræn dəm/

adjective

proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern:

the random selection of numbers.

Statistics. of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen.

Building Trades.

(of building materials) lacking uniformity of dimensions:
random shingles.
(of ashlar) laid without continuous courses.
constructed or applied without regularity:
random bond.

Informal.

unknown, unidentified, or out of place:
A couple of random guys showed up at the party.
odd and unpredictable in an amusing way:
my totally random life.

noun

Chiefly British, bank³ (def 7b).

adverb

Building Trades. without uniformity:

random-sized slates.

Idioms

at random, without definite aim, purpose, method, or adherence to a prior arrangement; in a haphazard way:

Contestants were chosen at random from the studio audience.

Origin

1275-1325; Middle English raundon, random < Old French randon, derivative of randir to gallop < Germanic

Related forms

randomly, adverb

randomness, noun

nonrandom, adjective

nonrandomly, adverb

nonrandomness, noun

Synonyms

1. haphazard, chance, fortuitous.

Examples from the web for randomness

It is obvious that a language cannot go beyond a certain point in this randomness.
To an outsider, the randomness of such discoveries is shocking.
All those other events have elements of outside randomness to them.
The randomness of openings abets the now-or-never mentality.
It was far removed from the randomness of real-life relationships.
The sculpture, on the floor, speaks with sullen power of order and randomness and not much else.
And yet this is at odds with another of the great challenges facing modern science: understanding the nature of randomness.
It turns out instead that a better approach strategy is to inject an element of randomness into a regular foraging pattern.
There is a well-known parallel problem in defining randomness.
Not to over-prize consensus, it does possess certain advantages over randomness and chaos.

British Dictionary definitions for randomness

random

/ˈrændəm/

adjective

lacking any definite plan or prearranged order; haphazard: a random selection

(statistics)

having a value which cannot be determined but only described probabilistically: a random variable
chosen without regard to any characteristics of the individual members of the population so that each has an equal chance of being selected: random sampling

(informal) (of a person) unknown: some random guy waiting for a bus

noun

at random, in a purposeless fashion; not following any prearranged order

Derived Forms

randomly, adverb
randomness, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Old French randon, from randir to gallop, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German rinnan to run

Word Origin and History for randomness

random

adj.

"having no definite aim or purpose," 1650s, from at random (1560s), "at great speed" (thus, "carelessly, haphazardly"), alteration of Middle English noun randon "impetuosity, speed" (c.1300), from Old French randon "rush, disorder, force, impetuosity," from randir "to run fast," from Frankish *rant "a running" or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *randa (cf. Old High German rennen "to run," Old English rinnan "to flow, to run;" see run (v.)).

In 1980s U.S. college student slang it began to acquire a sense of "inferior, undesirable." (A 1980 William Safire column describes it as a college slang noun meaning "person who does not belong on our dormitory floor.") Random access in reference to computer memory is recorded from 1953. Related: Randomly; randomness.

randomness in Science

random

(rān'dəm)

Relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.
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.

randomness in Technology

1. An inexplicable misfeature; gratuitous inelegance.
2. A hack or crock that depends on a complex combination of coincidences (or, possibly, the combination upon which the crock depends for its accidental failure to malfunction). "This hack can output characters 40--57 by putting the character in the four bit accumulator field of an XCT and then extracting six bits - the low 2 bits of the XCT opcode are the right thing." "What randomness!"
3. Of people, synonymous with "flakiness". The connotation is that the person so described is behaving weirdly, incompetently, or inappropriately for reasons which are (a) too tiresome to bother inquiring into, (b) are probably as inscrutable as quantum phenomena anyway, and (c) are likely to pass with time. "Maybe he has a real complaint, or maybe it's just randomness. See if he calls back."
[Jargon File]

Idioms and Phrases with randomness

random

see: at random