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random

Pronunciation: /ˈɹændəm/

The English word “random” has 15 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
  2. Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force.
  3. The full range of a bullet or other projectile; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range.
  4. An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence.
  5. The direction of a rake-vein.
  6. A frame for composing type.

adjective

  1. Occurring for no particular reason; haphazard, unpredictable.
  2. 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.
  3. Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
  4. Selected for no particular reason; arbitrary; unspecified.
  5. Being (part of) a varied, unrelated, and apparently arbitrary collection of things; diverse, heterogeneous.
  6. Apropos of nothing; lacking context, relevance, or any connection to the previous situation; unexpected.
  7. Of a person: characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.
  8. Being out of the ordinary; unusual or unexpected; odd, strange, bizarre.

verb

  1. To wander; to stray; to meander.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.