. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
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 *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
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.
( obsolete ) Speed , full speed; impetuosity , force .
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.
( obsolete ) The full range of a bullet or other projectile ; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range.
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
( figuratively , colloquial ) An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence.
Synonyms: rando , nobody , nonentity
The party was boring. It was full of randoms .
( 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
Synonyms
Translations
obsolete: speed, full speed; impetuosity, force
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
( 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.
( computing ) Pseudorandom ; mimicking the result of random selection.
The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
( 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.
( 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.
( 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.
( 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.
( 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
Descendants
Translations
all outcomes being unpredictable
Afrikaans: willekeurig
Arabic: عَشْوَائِيّ ( ʕašwāʔiyy )
Armenian: պատահական (hy) ( patahakan )
Bashkir: осраҡлы ( osraqlı )
Bulgarian: случаен (bg) ( slučaen )
Catalan: aleatori (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 隨機 / 随机 (zh) ( suíjī )
Czech: náhodný (cs) m
Danish: tilfældig
Dutch: willekeurig (nl) , toevallig (nl) , lukraak (nl)
Esperanto: aleatora , arbitra (eo) , hazarda
Estonian: juhuslik (et) , suvaline
Faroese: tilvildarligur
Finnish: satunnainen (fi)
French: aléatoire (fr) , au hasard (fr)
Galician: aleatorio (gl)
Georgian: შემთხვევითი ( šemtxveviti ) , არეული ( areuli ) , თვითნებითი ( tvitnebiti ) , ქაოსური ( kaosuri ) , უწესრიგო ( uc̣esrigo )
German: zufällig (de)
Greek: τυχαίος (el) m ( tychaíos )
Ancient: εἰκαῖος ( eikaîos )
Hawaiian: please add this translation if you can
Hebrew: אקראי (he) m ( akraí )
Hindi: यादृच्छिक (hi) ( yādŕcchik )
Hungarian: véletlenszerű (hu) , véletlen (hu) , random (hu)
Icelandic: handahófskenndur
Ido: hazarda (io)
Indonesian: acak (id)
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)
Kazakh: кездейсоқ ( kezdeisoq )
Korean: 무작위(無作爲) (ko) ( mujagwi )
Latin: fortuītus (la)
Luxembourgish: zoufälleg
Macedonian: случаен m ( slučaen )
Malay: rawak (ms)
Maori: hiko , 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 ) , рандо́мный (ru) ( randómnyj ) ( special or colloquial )
Serbo-Croatian: nasumice (sh) , proizvoljno (sh)
Sicilian: a muzzu , com'è-è
Slovak: náhodný
Spanish: aleatorio (es) , estocástico (es) , azaroso (es)
Swedish: slumpmässig (sv) , oberäknelig (sv) , slumpartad (sv)
Thai: สุ่ม (th) ( sùm )
Tigrinya: ዘፈቀዳዊ ( zäfäḳädawi )
Turkish: rastgele (tr) , gelişigüzel (tr)
Ukrainian: випадко́вий (uk) ( vypadkóvyj )
Vietnamese: ngẫu nhiên (vi)
Welsh: ar hap
mathematics: of or relating to probability distribution
Arabic: عَشْوَائِيّ ( ʕašwāʔiyy )
Armenian: պատահական (hy) ( patahakan )
Bulgarian: случаен (bg) ( slučaen )
Catalan: aleatori (ca)
Esperanto: aleatora
Finnish: satunnainen (fi)
French: aléatoire (fr) , stochastique (fr)
Greek: τυχαίος (el) m ( tychaíos )
Hungarian: sztochasztikus (hu)
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) ( randamu na )
Kazakh: кездейсоқ ( kezdeisoq )
Macedonian: случаен m ( slučaen )
Maori: matapōkere
Norwegian: tilfeldig (no) , tilfellelig , tilfelleleg
Persian: تصادفی (fa) ( tasâdofi )
Polish: losowy (pl)
Portuguese: aleatório (pt) , randômico (pt)
Russian: случа́йный (ru) ( slučájnyj ) , рандо́мный (ru) ( randómnyj ) ( special or colloquial )
Slovak: náhodný
Spanish: aleatorio (es) , estocástico (es) , azaroso (es)
Tagalog: alisaga
Thai: สุ่ม (th) ( sùm )
Turkish: rastgele (tr) , rassal (tr)
computing: pseudorandom
Catalan: pseudo-aleatori
Chinese:
Mandarin: 隨機 / 随机 (zh) ( suíjī )
Czech: pseudonáhodný (cs) m
Finnish: satunnainen (fi) , näennäissatunnainen
French: pseudo-aléatoire
German: zufällig (de)
Hungarian: álvéletlen (hu) , pszeudorandom
Japanese: 任意の (ja) ( にんいの , nin'i no) , ランダムな (ja) ( randamu na )
Macedonian: случаен m ( slučaen ) , псевдослучаен m ( psevdoslučaen )
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 )
Slovak: náhodný
Spanish: pseudoaleatorio , pseudoazaroso m , pseudoestocástico m
Thai: สุ่มเทียม ( sùm-tiiam )
Turkish: sözde rastgele
undistinguished, average
Bulgarian: произволен (bg) ( proizvolen )
Catalan: qualsevol
Czech: průměrný (cs) m , náhodný (cs) m , neodlišitelný m
Esperanto: hazarda , hazardeca
Finnish: tavallinen (fi) , satunnainen (fi)
French: moyen (fr)
German: Durchschnitts-
Hungarian: átlagos (hu) , közönséges (hu) , szokványos (hu) , random (hu)
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 , heikin-teki na)
Macedonian: случаен m ( slučaen )
Polish: przeciętny (pl) , statystyczny (pl)
Russian: случа́йный (ru) ( slučájnyj ) , пе́рвый попа́вшийся (ru) ( pérvyj popávšijsja ) , произво́льный (ru) ( proizvólʹnyj )
Slovak: ktorýkoľvek , ľubovoľný
Spanish: cualquiera (es)
Swedish: vanlig (sv)
Thai: เฉลี่ย (th) ( chà-lìia )
apropos of nothing
Czech: nesouvisející m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 莫名其妙 (zh) ( mòmíngqímiào )
Danish: overflødig (da) , ligegyldig
Finnish: satunnainen (fi) , asiaankuulumaton (fi) , irrallinen (fi)
French: sorti de nulle part (fr)
German: random (de)
Japanese: 適当な (ja) ( てきとうな , tekitō na) , 出任せの (ja) ( 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 (ja) ( ふかかいな , fukakai na)
Korean: 뜬금없다 ( tteun'geumeopda )
Latin: fortūitus (la)
Macedonian: бесцелен m ( bescelen )
Maori: tupurangi
Polish: bez związku , od czapy (pl)
Russian: неуме́стный (ru) ( neuméstnyj )
Slovak: irelevantný (sk) , odveci
Spanish: azaroso (es) , estocástico (es) , aleatorio (es) , random ( rándom )
Ukrainian: недоцільний ( nedocilʹnyj ) , недоречний ( nedorečnyj )
Translations to be checked
Verb
random (third-person singular simple present randoms , present participle randoming , simple past and past participle randomed )
( intransitive , now uncommon ) To wander ; to stray ; to meander .
Further reading
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English random .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ʁɑ̃.dɔm/ , /ʁan.dɔm/
Adjective
random (plural randoms )
( colloquial , chiefly youth slang ) random ( apropos of nothing, lacking context )
Synonym: lambda
Noun
random m or f (plural randoms )
( colloquial , chiefly youth slang ) random person ; random guy , rando
Synonym: lambda
un random sur internet ― a rando on the Internet
German
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English random .
Pronunciation
Adjective
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 , →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)
random ( apropos of nothing, lacking context )
random ( often saying random things )
Further reading
Hungarian
Etymology
From English random .
Pronunciation
Adjective
random (comparative randomabb , superlative legrandomabb )
random
Synonyms: véletlen , véletlenszerű
( informal ) undistinguished , average , arbitrary , whichever , any
Synonyms: tetszőleges , akármelyik , akármilyen , bármelyik , bármilyen
Declension
References
Polish
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˈran.dɔm/
Rhymes: -andɔm
Syllabification: ran‧dom
Etymology 1
Borrowed from English random .
Noun
random m pers
( colloquial , slang ) random , rando ( undefined, unknown, or unimportant person; a person of no consequence )
Z randomami z neta nie gadam. ― I don't talk to randos on the Internet.
Declension
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Noun
random m animal
dative plural of rand
Further reading
random in Polish dictionaries at PWN
random at Obserwatorium językowe Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English random .
Pronunciation
Adjective
random m or f (masculine and feminine plural randoms )
( Internet slang , youth slang , colloquial ) random
Synonyms: aleatorio , al azar , estocástico
Noun
random m or f (plural randoms )
( Internet slang , youth slang , colloquial ) random person; random guy, rando
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
References
“random ”, in Fundéu (in Spanish), 2019 June 18
Manuel Seco , Olimpia Andrés, Gabino Ramos (2023 August 3) “random ”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA
Turkish
Etymology
Borrowed from English random .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˈɾan.dom/
( imitating English ) IPA (key ) : /ˈɾendɯm/ ,
Hyphenation: ran‧dom
Adverb
random
( Internet slang , youth slang , colloquial ) randomly
Synonym: rastgele
Adjective
random
( Internet slang , youth slang , colloquial ) random
Synonym: rastgele
random bir adam ― a random person
Noun
random (definite accusative randomu , plural randomlar )
( Internet slang , youth slang , colloquial ) any word made by randomly pressing keys on a keyboard, usually used to show a person laughing
( by extension ) gibberish
Derived terms
Further reading
Vietnamese
Etymology
Borrowed from English random .
Pronunciation
Adverb
random
randomly
Synonym: ngẫu nhiên
Chọn random ba món quà. To choose three gifts randomly .
Adjective
random
random (unpredictable outcome)
Synonym: ngẫu nhiên
quà random ― random gifts
Verb
random
to do something randomly
Nếu chưa biết ăn món gì thì cứ random thôi. If you haven't known what to eat, just choose randomly .