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random

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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    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

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    Noun

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    random (countable and uncountable, plural randoms)

    1. A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
    2. (obsolete) Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force. [14th–17th c.]
      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.
    3. (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–19th c.]
      • 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 […]
    4. (figuratively, colloquial) An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence. [from 20th c.]
      Synonyms: rando, nobody, nonentity
      The party was boring. It was full of randoms.
    5. (mining) The direction of a rake-vein.
    6. (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

    Synonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    Adjective

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    random (comparative more random, superlative most random)

    1. Occurring for no particular reason; haphazard, unpredictable.
      Synonym: desultory
      Our city is plagued by random acts of violence.
      random acts of kindness
    2. (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[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.
    3. (computing) Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
      The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
    5. (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.
    6. (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.
    8. (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.
    10. (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.
    11. (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

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    terms derived from random (adjective)

    Descendants

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    • → Armenian: ռանդոմ (ṙandom)
    • → French: random
    • → German: random
    • → Hungarian: random
    • → Polish: random
    • → Russian: рандо́м (randóm)
    • → Spanish: random
    • → Turkish: random
    • → Vietnamese: random

    Translations

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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

    Verb

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    random (third-person singular simple present randoms, present participle randoming, simple past and past participle randomed)

    1. (intransitive, now uncommon) To wander; to stray; to meander.

    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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    French

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    Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English random.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ʁɑ̃.dɔm/, /ʁan.dɔm/

    Adjective

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    random (plural randoms)

    1. (colloquial, chiefly youth slang) random (apropos of nothing, lacking context)
      Synonym: lambda

    Noun

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    random m or f (plural randoms)

    1. (colloquial, chiefly youth slang) random person; random guy, rando
      Synonym: lambda
      un random sur internet ― a rando on the Internet

    German

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    Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English random.

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    random (indeclinable) (colloquial, chiefly youth slang)

    1. 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[2], →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[3], →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)
    2. random (apropos of nothing, lacking context)
    3. random (often saying random things)

    Further reading

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    Hungarian

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    Etymology

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    From English random.[1]

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): [ˈrɒndom]
    • Hyphenation: ran‧dom
    • Rhymes: -om

    Adjective

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    random (comparative randomabb, superlative legrandomabb)

    1. random
      Synonyms: véletlen, véletlenszerű
    2. (informal) undistinguished, average, arbitrary, whichever, any
      Synonyms: tetszőleges, akármelyik, akármilyen, bármelyik, bármilyen

    Declension

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    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

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    1. ^ 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

    Polish

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    Borrowed from English random.

    Noun

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    random m pers

    1. (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
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    Declension of random
    singular plural
    nominative random randomi/randomy (deprecative)
    genitive randoma randomów
    dative randomowi randomom
    accusative randoma randomów
    instrumental randomem randomami
    locative randomie randomach
    vocative randomie randomi
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    adjectives
    adverbs

    Etymology 2

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    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    Noun

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    random m animal

    1. dative plural of rand

    Further reading

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    • random in Polish dictionaries at PWN
    • random at Obserwatorium językowe Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

    Portuguese

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    Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *h₃er-
    Proto-Indo-European *h₃reyH-der.
    Proto-Germanic *rinnaną
    Proto-West Germanic *rinnan
    Frankish *randijubor.
    Old French randirder.
    Old French randonbor.
    Middle English randoun
    English randon
    English randomubor.
    Portuguese random

      Unadapted borrowing from English random.

      Pronunciation

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      Adjective

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      random m or f (plural randons)

      1. (Internet slang) random; aleatory
        Synonym: aleatório
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      Noun

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      random m or f by sense (plural randons)

      1. (Internet slang, usually derogatory) rando (random person)

      Spanish

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      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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      Unadapted borrowing from English random.

      Pronunciation

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      • IPA(key): /ˈrandom/ [ˈrãn̪.d̪õm]
      • Rhymes: -andom
      • Syllabification: ran‧dom

      Adjective

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      random m or f (masculine and feminine plural randoms)

      1. (Internet slang, youth slang, colloquial) random
        Synonyms: aleatorio, al azar, estocástico

      Noun

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      random m or f (plural randoms)

      1. (Internet slang, youth slang, colloquial) random person; random guy, rando

      Usage notes

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      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

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      • “random”, in Fundéu (in Spanish), 18 June 2019
      • Manuel Seco; Olimpia Andrés; Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023), “random”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]

      Turkish

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      Etymology

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      Borrowed from English random.

      Pronunciation

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      • IPA(key): /ˈɾan.dom/
      • (imitating English) IPA(key): /ˈɾendɯm/, [ˈɾæn-]
      • Hyphenation: ran‧dom

      Adverb

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      random

      1. (Internet slang, youth slang, colloquial) randomly
        Synonym: rastgele

      Adjective

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      random

      1. (Internet slang, youth slang, colloquial) random
        Synonym: rastgele
        random bir adam ― a random person

      Noun

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      random (definite accusative randomu, plural randomlar)

      1. (Internet slang, youth slang, colloquial) any word made by randomly pressing keys on a keyboard, usually used to show a person laughing
      2. (by extension) gibberish

      Derived terms

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      Further reading

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      Vietnamese

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      Etymology

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      Borrowed from English random.

      Pronunciation

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      Adverb

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      random

      1. randomly
        Synonym: ngẫu nhiên
        Chọn random ba món quà.
        To choose three gifts randomly.

      Adjective

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      random

      1. random (unpredictable outcome)
        Synonym: ngẫu nhiên
        quà random ― random gifts

      Verb

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      random

      1. 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.
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