random

English

Etymology

From Middle English raundon, from Old French randon, from randir (“to gallop”) (whence French randonnée (“long walk, hike”)), from Frankish *rant, *rand (“a running”), from Proto-Germanic *randijō (“a running”), from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną (“to run”), from Proto-Indo-European *ren- (“to rise; to sink”). See run.

Pronunciation

• enPR: răn'dəm, IPA^(key): /ˈɹændəm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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, 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. [14^th-17^thc.]
   • 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

   • 1548, Edward Hall, Chronicle, page 617:

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

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. [16^th-19^thc.]
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 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 20^thc.]

   The party was boring. It was full of randoms.

5. (mining) The direction of a rake-vein.

Synonyms

• (speed; force): force, momentum, speed, velocity
• (unimportant person): rando, nobody, nonentity
• (bad player): randy, bad kid

Translations

obsolete: speed, full speed; impetuosity, force

• Galician: randón

• Old Portuguese: randon

unimportant person

• Catalan: fulano m
• Estonian: suvakas
• Finnish: tavis (fi)
• French: inconnu (fr) m
• Greek: τυχαίος (el) m (tychaíos)

• Italian: sconosciuto (it) m, estraneo (it) m, nullità (it) f
• Japanese: 野次馬 (ja) (やじうま, yajiuma)
• Luxembourgish: zoufälleg
• Portuguese: joão-ninguém (pt) m, fulano (pt) m, sicrano (pt) m, beltrano (pt) m
• Spanish: mucho quilombo, fulano (es) m

Adjective

random (comparative more random, superlative most random)

1. Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.

   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.

2. (mathematics) Of or relating to probability distribution.

   A toss of loaded dice is still random, though biased.

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

   The rand function generates a random number from a seed.

4. (somewhat colloquial) Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.

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

5. (somewhat colloquial) Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause, or reason.

   That was a completely random comment.

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

   The narrative takes a random course.

6. (colloquial) Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.

   You're so random!

Synonyms

• (having unpredictable outcomes): aleatory
• (of or relating to probability distribution): stochastic
• (pseudorandom): pseudorandom
• (representative and undistinguished): average, typical
• (lacking context): arbitrary, unexpected, unplanned

Derived terms

terms derived from random (adjective)

• at random
• non-random
• pseudorandom

• randomer
• randomise
• randomize

• randomly
• randomness
• random number

• randomology
• randomosity

Translations

all outcomes being unpredictable

• Afrikaans: willekeurig
• Arabic: عَشْوَائِيّ‎‎ (ʿašwāʾiyy)
• Armenian: պատահական (hy) (patahakan)
• Catalan: aleatori
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: náhodný (cs) m
• Danish: tilfældig
• Deutsch: zufällig (de)
• Dutch: willekeurig (nl), toevallig (nl), lukraak (nl)
• Esperanto: aleatora, arbitra (eo), hazarda
• Estonian: juhuslik (et), suvaline
• Faroese: tilvildarligur
• Finnish: satunnainen (fi)
• French: aléatoire (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: zufällig (de)
• Greek: τυχαίος (el) m (tychaíos)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can
• Hindi: यादृच्छिक (hi) (yādŕcchik)
• Hungarian: véletlenszerű (hu), véletlen (hu)
• Ido: hazarda (io)

• Irish: fánach, teagmhasach
• Italian: casuale (it), fortuito (it) m
• Japanese: (formal) 任意の (ja) (にんいの, nin'i no), (informal) 適当な (ja) (てきとうな, tekitō na)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: zoufälleg
• Macedonian: случаен m (slučaen)
• Malay: rawak (ms)
• Maori: tupurangi
• Mongolian: таамгаар (taamgaar)
• Norwegian: tilfeldig (no), tilfellelig, tilfelleleg
• Persian: تصادفی‎‎ (fa) (tasâdofi)
• Polish: przypadkowy (pl) m, losowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: aleatório (pt)
• Romanian: aleatoriu (ro) m, aleatorie f, întâmplător (ro) m, întâmplătoare f
• Russian: случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: nasumice (sh), proizvoljno (sh)
• Spanish: aleatorio (es)
• Swedish: slumpmässig (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: rastgele (tr), gelişigüzel (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: ar hap

mathematics: of or relating to probability distribution

• Armenian: պատահական (hy) (patahakan)
• Catalan: aleatori
• Esperanto: aleatora
• Finnish: satunnainen (fi)
• French: aléatoire (fr), stochastique (fr)
• Greek: τυχαίος (el) m (tychaíos)
• Japanese: 任意の (ja) (にんいの, nin'i no), 無作為な (ja) (むさくいな, musakui na), ランダムな (ja) (らんだむな, randamu na)
• Macedonian: случаен m (slúčaen)

• Maori: matapōkere
• Norwegian: tilfeldig (no), tilfellelig, tilfelleleg
• Persian: تصادفی‎‎ (fa) (tasâdofi)
• Polish: losowy (pl)
• Portuguese: aleatório (pt), randômico (pt)
• Russian: случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj)
• Tagalog: alisaga
• Turkish: rastgele (tr), rassal

computing: pseudorandom

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 隨機 (zh) (suíjī)

• Czech: pseudonáhodný m
• Finnish: satunnainen (fi), näennäissatunnainen
• French: pseudo-aléatoire
• Hungarian: átlagos (hu)
• Japanese: 任意の (ja) (にんいの, nin'i no), ランダムな (ja) (らんだむな, randamu na)

• Macedonian: случаен m (slúčaen), псевдослучаен m (psevdoslúčaen)
• Norwegian: tilfeldig (no), tilfellelig, tilfelleleg
• Persian: تصادفی‎‎ (fa) (tasâdofi)
• Polish: losowy (pl), pseudolosowy
• Portuguese: aleatório (pt), randômico (pt), pseudo-randômico
• Russian: случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj), псевдослуча́йный (ru) (psevdoslučájnyj)
• Turkish: sözde rastgele

undistinguished, average

• Czech: průměrný (cs) m, náhodný (cs) m, neodlišitelný m
• Esperanto: hazarda, hazardeca
• Finnish: tavallinen (fi), satunnainen (fi)
• French: moyen (fr)

• Japanese: (undistinguished) 任意の (ja) (にんいの, nin'i no), 適当な (ja) (てきとうな, tekitō na), (average) 平均的な (へいきんてきな, hēkin-teki na)
• Macedonian: случаен m (slúčaen)
• Polish: przeciętny (pl), statystyczny (pl)
• Russian: случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj), пе́рвый попа́вшийся (ru) (pérvyj popávšijsja), произво́льный (ru) (proizvólʹnyj)

apropos of nothing

• Czech: nesouvisející m
• Danish: overflødig (da), ligegyldig
• Finnish: satunnainen (fi), asiaankuulumaton (fi), irrallinen (fi)
• French: sans queue ni tête (fr), incohérent (fr)
• Japanese: 適当な (ja) (てきとうな, tekitō na), 出任せの (でまかせの, demakase no), 勝手気ままな (かってきままな, katte-kimama na), 不可解な (ふかかいな, fukakai na)

• Latin: fortūitus
• Macedonian: бесцелен m (bescelen)
• Maori: tupurangi
• Polish: bez związku, od czapy
• Russian: неуме́стный (ru) (neuméstnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} عَشْوَائِيّ‎‎ (ʿašwāʾiyy)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} aleatori
• French: ^{(please verify)} accidentel (fr), (1) ^{(please verify)} imprévisible (fr), ^{(please verify)} au hasard (fr), (2) ^{(please verify)} aléatoire (fr), ^{(please verify)} arbitraire (fr)
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ალალბედზე (alalbedze)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} אקראי‎‎ (he) m (A'kra'i), ^{(please verify)} אקראית‎‎ f (A'kra'it)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} यादृच्छिक (hi) (yaadhRchChika)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 随机 (zh) (suíjī)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ^{(please verify)} vilkårlig (no)

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} aleatoriu (ro)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} náhodný
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} aleatorio (es), ^{(please verify)} azaroso (es)
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} baghala, ^{(please verify)} ovyoovyo
• Swedish: (1,4) ^{(please verify)} slumpvis, (1,4) ^{(please verify)} slumpmässig (sv)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} యాధృచ్ఛిక (yādhr̥cchika) (1, 2, 3, 4)
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} ไม่บ่อย (mâi bói)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} rasgele (tr), (1-5) ^{(please verify)} gelisiguzel

See also

• Randomness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Damron, Dorman, Rodman, mandor, rodman

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Hungarian

Etymology

From English random.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈrɒndom]
• Hyphenation: ran‧dom

Adjective

random (comparative randomabb, superlative legrandomabb)

1. random

Declension

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

Synonyms

• véletlen
• véletlenszerű