random
English
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 *rant, *rand (“run”, noun), from Proto-Germanic *randijō, from *rinnaną (“run”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw- (“to flow, move, run”). See run.
Pronunciation
Noun
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-17thc.]
- 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, “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-19thc.]
- 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 […]
- 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, page 144:
- (figuratively, colloquial) An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence. [from 20thc.]
- The party was boring. It was full of randoms.
- (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
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unimportant person
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Adjective
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.
- 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.
- A toss of loaded dice is still random, though biased.
- (computing) Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
- The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
- (somewhat colloquial) Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.
- A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference.
- (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.
- (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)
Translations
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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See also
- Randomness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
Hungarian
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adjective
random (comparative randomabb, superlative legrandomabb)
- random
- Synonyms: véletlen, véletlenszerű
- (informal) undistinguished, average, arbitrary, whichever, any
- Synonyms: tetszőleges, akármelyik, akármilyen, bármelyik, bármilyen
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 |
non-attributive possessive - singular |
randomé | randomoké |
non-attributive possessive - plural |
randoméi | randomokéi |
References
- ^ 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
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
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- English terms derived from Frankish
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