Random
['rændəm]
Definition
(adj.) lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance; 'a random choice'; 'bombs fell at random'; 'random movements' .
Checked by Leroy--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Force; violence.
(n.) A roving motion; course without definite direction; want of direction, rule, or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly used in the phrase at random, that is, without a settled point of direction; at hazard.
(n.) Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as, the random of a rifle ball.
(n.) The direction of a rake-vein.
(a.) Going at random or by chance; done or made at hazard, or without settled direction, aim, or purpose; hazarded without previous calculation; left to chance; haphazard; as, a random guess.
Editor: Percival
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Chance, casual, fortuitous.
Typist: Murray
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Haphazard, stray, chance, wild, aimless, purposeless, unpremeditated, casual,vague, accidental
ANT:Steady, aimed, intended, regular, controlled, purposed, intentional,deliberate, designed, normal, systematic
Checker: Quincy
Definition
adj. done or uttered at haphazard: left to chance: aimless—(obs.) Ran′don.—n. something done without aim chance—now only in phrase At random haphazard.—adv. Ran′domly without direction: by chance.
Checker: Pamela
Examples
- They talked and prattled at random, he always as if he were well, just the same as when he was going about. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Mr. Winsor's absurd statements--in the truth of which he potently believed--and the wild, random manner of making them known, excited much ridicule and opposition. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- None of those present ventured to make any remark on this assertion, although all felt that it was merely a random guess, based on the sanguine dream of an inventor. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- But the same hand which has cast the celestial spheres in space, has traced their course in the heavens, and does not allow them to wander at random to disturb and destroy each other. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- But when the new element requires especial attention, random reaction is the sole recourse unless abstraction is brought into play. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is not fair, said Emma, in a whisper; mine was a random guess. Jane Austen. Emma.
- Human Justice rushed before me in novel guise, a red, random beldame, with arms akimbo. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- I think they must have been taken out at random, for I am sure I tasted aniseed water, anchovy sauce, and salad dressing. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- As matter of fact, the native activities develop, in contrast with random and capricious exercise, through the uses to which they are put. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is customary to frown upon such aimless random activity, treating it as willful mischief or carelessness or lawlessness. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is antithetical to random and ill-considered action,--ill-considered signifying ill-adapted. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Until he had mastered the principles of zoology, his efforts to make anything out of them would be random and blind. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- And gradually, what I had done at random, seemed to shape itself into a purpose, Mr. Barsad. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- There were no walls, no fences, no hedges--nothing to secure a man's possessions but these random heaps of stones. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Nor is the spirit of the laboratory work represented in the following dialogue overheard between two alleged carpenters picked up at random to help on a hurry job. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He had not heard her divorce spoken of since Janey's first random allusion to it, and had dismissed the tale as unfounded gossip. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- I have sustained my own idea of Roderick Random for a month at a stretch, I verily believe. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Piano playing is not hitting the keys at random. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- I mention these experiments at random. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- A certain doubt came up in my mind whether Sergeant Cuff's last random shot might not have hit the mark. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
Checker: Pamela