random
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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[edit]
Noun[edit]
random (countable and uncountable, plural randoms)
- 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 !
- (obsolete) Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force. [14th–17th c.]
- 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
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 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.
- (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 […]
- (figurative, colloquial) An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence. [from 20th c.]
- (mining) The direction of a rake-vein.
- (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
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
obsolete: speed, full speed; impetuosity, force
unimportant person
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Adjective[edit]
random (comparative more random, superlative most random)
- Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.
- 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.
- July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[1]
- 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.
- (mathematics) Of or relating to probability distribution.
- Synonym: stochastic
- A toss of loaded dice is still random, though biased.
- (computing) Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
- Synonym: pseudorandom
- The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
- (somewhat colloquial) Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.
- (somewhat colloquial) Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause, or reason.
- Synonyms: arbitrary, unexpected, unplanned
- That was a completely random comment.
- The teacher's bartending story was interesting, but random.
- The narrative takes a random course.
- (colloquial) Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.
- You're so random!
- (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!
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from random (adjective)
- at random
- dynamic random access memory
- Fischer random chess
- hypergeometric random variable
- non-random
- non-volatile random access memory
- normal random variable
- programmed random occurrence
- pseudorandom
- rando
- random-access
- random access
- random-access memory
- random access memory
- random encounter
- randomer
- random forest
- random function
- random glucose
- randomise, randomize
- random-ish
- random-like
- randomly
- randomness
- random neural network
- random number
- random number generator
- random number god
- randomosity
- random sample
- random seed
- random sequence
- random variable
- random walk
- random walker
- resistive random access memory
- semi-random, semirandom
- standard normal random variable
- static random access memory
Descendants[edit]
Translations[edit]
all outcomes being unpredictable
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mathematics: of or relating to probability distribution
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computing: pseudorandom
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undistinguished, average
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apropos of nothing
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading[edit]
randomness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams[edit]
German[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English random.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
random (indeclinable) (colloquial, chiefly youth slang)
- 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[2], →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[3], →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)
- random (apropos of nothing, lacking context)
- random (often saying random things)
Further reading[edit]
- “random” in Duden online
Hungarian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
random (comparative randomabb, superlative legrandomabb)
- random
- Synonyms: véletlen, véletlenszerű
- (informal) undistinguished, average, arbitrary, whichever, any
- Synonyms: tetszőleges, akármelyik, akármilyen, bármelyik, bármilyen
Declension[edit]
Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony) | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | random | randomok |
accusative | randomot | randomokat |
dative | randomnak | randomoknak |
instrumental | randommal | randomokkal |
causal-final | randomért | randomokért |
translative | randommá | randomokká |
terminative | randomig | randomokig |
essive-formal | randomként | randomokként |
essive-modal | — | — |
inessive | randomban | randomokban |
superessive | randomon | randomokon |
adessive | randomnál | randomoknál |
illative | randomba | randomokba |
sublative | randomra | randomokra |
allative | randomhoz | randomokhoz |
elative | randomból | randomokból |
delative | randomról | randomokról |
ablative | randomtól | randomoktól |
non-attributive possessive - singular |
randomé | randomoké |
non-attributive possessive - plural |
randoméi | randomokéi |
References[edit]
- ^ Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN
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