random

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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: răn'dəm, IPA^(key): /ˈɹændəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ændəm

Noun

random (countable and uncountable, plural randoms)

1. A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
   • 1648, Robert Herrick, Hesperides, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., published 1844, page 134:

     Still take advice ; though counsels, when they fly / At random, sometimes hit most happily.

   • 1815, Sir Walter Scott, The Lord of the Isles, page 216:

     O ! many a shaft, at random sent, / Finds mark the archer little meant !

2. (obsolete) Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force. [14th–17th c.]

   Synonyms: force, momentum, speed, velocity

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:

     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

     they were messengers unto King Ban and Bors sent from King Arthur. Therefore, said the eight knights, ye shall die or be prisoners, for we be knights of King Claudas. And therewith two of them dressed their spears, and Ulfius and Brastias dressed their spears, and ran together with great random.

   • 1548, Edward Hall, “The triumphant reigne of Kyng Henry the VIII”, in The Union of the two noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (Hall’s Chronicle), page 82v:

     […] for coragiouſly the two kynges newely foughte with great randon and force, they ſhewed their vigors and ſtrengthes and did ſo nobly that their coũter parties had none aduaũtage.

3. (obsolete) The full range of a bullet or other projectile; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range. [16th–19th c.]
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 144:

     Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare the marke, and 120 is their best at Random.

   • 1644, Sir Kenelm Digby, Two Treatises, page 125:

     […] the angle at which the miſſive is to mount by ( if we will have it go to its furtheſt randome ) muſt be the half of a right one […]

4. (figuratively, colloquial) An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence. [from 20th c.]

   Synonyms: rando, nobody, nonentity

   The party was boring. It was full of randoms.

5. (mining) The direction of a rake-vein.
6. (printing, historical) A frame for composing type.
   • 1935, Newspaper World, numbers 1930-1955, page 41:

     Utilization of all floor space underneath case racks and randoms is another feature of the modern composing room; […]

   • 2002, Republic of Korea, number 2, page 502:

     Printers' frames and randoms

Adjective

random (comparative more random, superlative most random)

1. Occurring for no particular reason; haphazard, unpredictable.

   Our city is plagued by random acts of violence.

   random acts of kindness

2. (statistics) 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

   The flip of a fair coin is purely random.

   The newspaper conducted a random sample of five hundred American teenagers.

   The results of the field survey look random by several different measures.

   A toss of a loaded die is still random, though biased.

   • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises

     Where the Joker preys on our fears of random, irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.

3. (computing) Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.

   The rand function generates a random number from a seed.

5. (informal) Selected for no particular reason; arbitrary; unspecified.

   A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference.

   You're just going to trust the word of random people on the Internet?

   I didn't have time to peruse the resturant's menu, so I just ordered some random dish.

   Whatever random hobby you're into, there's an Internet community for it.

6. (informal) Being (part of) a varied, unrelated, and apparently arbitrary collection of things; diverse, heterogeneous.

   My notebook has turned into a random collection of thoughts.

   I brought a bunch of random snacks, but nothing nutritious.

   I mixed a bunch of random vegetables into a salad, and it actually turned out pretty good.

8. (informal) Apropos of nothing; lacking context, relevance, or any connection to the previous situation; unexpected.

   This random guy just came up to me to say that he was a fan of my work.

   Thank you for that completely random comment... now, let's get back to our actual topic of discussion.

   The teacher's bartending story was interesting, but very random.

   I feel like pineapple is a very random thing to put on a pizza.

10. (informal) Of a person: characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.

    You're so random! I never know what you're going to do next.

11. (UK, slang) Being out of the ordinary; unusual or unexpected; odd, strange, bizarre.

    That's a rather random fact!

    I can't believe he would say that. That's so random!

Verb

random (third-person singular simple present randoms, present participle randoming, simple past and past participle randomed)

1. (intransitive, now uncommon) To wander; to stray; to meander.

Further reading

• randomness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “random, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• Damron, Dorman, Madron, Mardon, Rodman, mandor, modRNA, ram-don, rodman

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English random.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɑ̃.dɔm/, /ʁan.dɔm/

Adjective

random (plural randoms)

1. (colloquial, chiefly youth slang) random (apropos of nothing, lacking context)

   Synonym: lambda

Noun

random m or f (plural randoms)

1. (colloquial, chiefly youth slang) random person; random guy, rando

   Synonym: lambda

   un random sur internet ― a rando on the Internet

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English random.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʁɛndəm/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

random (indeclinable) (colloquial, chiefly youth slang)

1. random (selected for no particular reason)

   Synonym: beliebig

   • 2022 November 28, Carolina Schwarz, “Social-Media-App BeReal: Solange es noch schön ist”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎, →ISSN:

     Das Prinzip ist simpel: Einmal am Tag zu einer random Uhrzeit erscheint bei allen Nutzer*innen eine Pushnachricht, dazu startet ein Zweiminutencountdown.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2023 January 29, Michael Brake, “Auf der Grünen Woche in Berlin: Im Sog der Häppchen”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎, →ISSN:

     Manche Länder haben dabei einen zentralen Auftritt, andere ein Sammelsurium aus vielen Einzelanbietern; es sind aber ohnehin nicht alle Länder da, nicht einmal alle Bundesländer. Es ist letztlich ziemlich random, beliebig, was hier geboten wird.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. random (apropos of nothing, lacking context)
3. random (often saying random things)

Further reading

• “random” in Duden online