Definitions for RANDOMˈræn dəm

Random House Webster's College Dictionary

ran•domˈræn dəm(adj.)

occurring or done without definite aim, reason, or pattern:
random examples.
Statistics. of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen.
Category: Statistics
Building Trades. (of building materials) lacking uniformity of dimensions: (of ashlar) laid without continuous courses. constructed or applied without regularity:
random shingles.
random bond.
Category: Building Trades
(adv.)Building Trades. without uniformity:
random-sized slates.
Category: Building Trades

Idioms for random:

at random,without regard to rules, schedules, etc.; haphazardly.
Category: Idiom

Origin of random:

1275–1325; ME raundon, random < OF randon, der. of randir to gallop < Gmc

ran′dom•ness(n.)

Princeton's WordNet

random(adj)
lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance
"a random choice"; "bombs fell at random"; "random movements"

Kernerman English Learner's Dictionary

random(adjective)ˈræn dəm
happening or chosen without an organized pattern or system
random searches of airline passengers

Wiktionary

random(Noun)
Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force.
random(Noun)
The full range of a bullet or other projectile; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range.
random(Noun)
An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence.
The party was boring. It was full of randoms.
random(Adjective)
Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.
random(Adjective)
Of or relating to probability distribution.
A toss of loaded dice is still random, though biased.
random(Adjective)
Pseudorandom in contrast to truly random; mimicking the result of random selection.
The function generates a random number from a seed.
random(Adjective)
Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.
A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference.
random(Adjective)
Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause or reason.
random(Adjective)
Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.
You're so random!

Webster Dictionary

Random(noun)
force; violence
Random(noun)
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
Random(noun)
distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as, the random of a rifle ball
Random(noun)
the direction of a rake-vein
Random(adj)
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

The New Hacker's Dictionary

random
1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird. “The system's been behaving pretty randomly.” 2. Assorted; undistinguished. “Who was at the conference?” “Just a bunch of random business types.” 3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. “He's just a random loser.” 4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organized. “The program has a random set of misfeatures.” “That's a random name for that function.” “Well, all the names were chosen pretty randomly.” 5. In no particular order, though deterministic. “The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is chosen randomly.” 6. Arbitrary. “It generates a random name for the scratch file.” 7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e., poorly done and for no good apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting in a particularly useless way, or an assembler routine that could easily have been coded using only three registers, but redundantly uses seven for values with non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving four extra registers. What randomness! 8. n. A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and generally get in the way. 9. n. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, anyone not known to the hacker speaking); the noun form of sense 2. “I went to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions”. 10. n. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also J. Random, some random X. 11. [UK] Conversationally, a non sequitur or something similarly out-of-the-blue. As in: “Stop being so random!” This sense equates to ‘hatstand’, taken from the Viz comic character “Roger Irrelevant - He's completely Hatstand.”