random
/ˈɹændəm/
random noun: a roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
Noun
random (countable and uncountable, plural randoms)
- A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
- Still take advice ; though counsels, when they fly / At random, sometimes hit most happily.1648, Robert Herrick, Hesperides, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., published 1844, page 134
- O ! many a shaft, at random sent, / Finds mark the archer little meant !1815, Sir Walter Scott, The Lord of the Isles, page 216
- Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force.
- 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 raundon1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book I
- […] 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.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
- The full range of a bullet or other projectile; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range.
- Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare the marke, and 120 is their best at Random.1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 144
- […] 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 […]1644, Sir Kenelm Digby, Two Treatises, page 125
- An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence.
- The party was boring. It was full of randoms.
- ‘The days I had to have sex with randoms, I thought thank God!’ Jamie Bell on eye-popping drama Half Man [title]2026 May 22, Michael Hogan, “‘The days I had to have sex with randoms, I thought thank God!’ Jamie Bell on eye-popping drama Half Man”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- The direction of a rake-vein.
- A frame for composing type.
- Utilization of all floor space underneath case racks and randoms is another feature of the modern composing room; […]1935, Newspaper World, numbers 1930-1955, page 41
- Printers' frames and randoms2002, Republic of Korea, number 2, page 502
Adjective
random (comparative more random, superlative most random)
- Occurring for no particular reason; haphazard, unpredictable.
- Our city is plagued by random acts of violence.
- random acts of kindness
- Synonyms:
- desultory
- 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.
- Synonyms:
- aleatory, stochastic
- Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
- The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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)
random meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
random in Hindi
- all outcomes being unpredictable
- यादृच्छिक yādŕcchik
random in Tamil
- அங்கொன்று இங்கொன்றாய், குறிப்பின்றி, தொடர்பின்றி, நோக்கின்றி, சமவாய்ப்புள்ள, வரம்பற்றது
random in Marathi
- यादृच्छिक
random in Urdu
- بےسلسلہ, بےتک
More languagesFewer languages
- random in Bengali
- এলোমেলো, দৈব
- random in Malayalam
- അനിയതം, ക്രമമില്ലാത്ത, അവിടവിടെയായ, ചിട്ടയില്ലാത്ത
- random in Kannada
- ಗೊತ್ತುಗುರಿಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ಕಟ್ಟಲೆಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ಯಾವುದೋ, ಯಾದೃಚ್ಛಿಕ
- random in Punjabi
- ਬੇਤਰਤੀਬੇ
- random in Gujarati
- યાદૃચ્છિક
- random in Odia
- ଯାଦୃଚ୍ଛିକ
- random in Nepali
- यादृच्छिक
- random in Tagalog
- alisaga
- random in Arabic
- عَشْوَائِيّ ʕašwāʔiyy
- random in Malay
- rawak
- random in Indonesian
- acak
- random in Persian
- تصادفی tasâdofi
- random in Thai
- เฉลี่ย chà-lìia, สุ่ม sùm, สุ่มเทียม sùm-tiiam
- random in Vietnamese
- ngẫu nhiên
Examples of random in a sentence
- 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.
- 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.
- I mixed a bunch of random vegetables into a salad, and it actually turned out pretty good.
Synonyms of random
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of random
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | randoms |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more random |
| superlative | most random |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | randoms |
| present participle | randoming |
| past participle | randomed |
| past | randomed |
Origin of random
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.
Words formed from random
- binomial random variable
- bi-random
- dynamic random access memory
- Fischer random chess
- hypergeometric random variable
- lolrandom
- non-random
- nonrandom
- non-volatile random access memory
- normal random variable
- programmed random occurrence
- pseudorandom
- quasirandom
- rando
- random access memory
- random-access memory
- random access
- random-access
- random act of kindness
- random camping
- random encounter
- randomer
- random forest
- random function
- random glucose
- randomicity
- randomisation
- randomise
- randomize
- random-ish
- randomish
- randomista
- randomity
- randomization
- randomly
- randomness
- random neural network
- random number
- random number generator
- random number god
- randomosity
- random process
- random sample
- random seed
- random sequence
- random telegraph noise
- random variable
- random walk
- random walker
- randumb
- resistive random access memory
- semi-random
- semirandom
- standard normal random variable
- static random access memory
- unrandom
- at random
- randomless
- random-like
- randomlike
Phrases with random
- J. Random
- Joe Random
- random seeds
- random walks
- J. Random User
- random forests
- random numbers
- random samples
- random walkers
- random functions
- random processes
- random sequences
15 more phrasesFewer phrases
- random variables
- random encounters
- random number gods
- random access memories
- random neural networks
- normal random variables
- random acts of kindness
- discrete random variable
- random number generators
- binomial random variables
- continuous random variable
- programmed random occurrences
- hypergeometric random variables
- resistive random access memories
- standard normal random variables
Words that rhyme with random
Questions about random
- What does random mean?
- Random means a roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
- What is random in Hindi?
- Random in Hindi is यादृच्छिक (yādŕcchik). See Random meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use random in a sentence?
- The newspaper conducted a random sample of five hundred American teenagers.
- What part of speech is random?
- Random can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce random?
- Random is pronounced /ˈɹændəm/.
- What is the plural of random?
- The plural of random is randoms.
Words near random in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: random (page history and authors); random (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); random (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); random (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); random (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); random (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); random (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); random (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); random (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); random (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); random (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-random.ogg.
Cite this entry: “random.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/random. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.