random

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.

noun

1. A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
   Still take advice ; though counsels, when they fly / At random, sometimes hit most happily. 1648, Robert Herrick, Hesperides, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., published 1844, page 134
   O ! many a shaft, at random sent, / Finds mark the archer little meant ! 1815, Sir Walter Scott, The Lord of the Isles, page 216
2. (obsolete) Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force.
3. 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:
4. (obsolete) The full range of a bullet or other projectile; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range.
   Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare the marke, and 120 is their best at Random. 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 144
   […] 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 […] 1644, Sir Kenelm Digby, Two Treatises, page 125
5. (figurative, colloquial) An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence.
   The party was boring. It was full of randoms.
6. (mining) The direction of a rake-vein.
7. (printing, historical) A frame for composing type.
   Utilization of all floor space underneath case racks and randoms is another feature of the modern composing room; […] 1935, Newspaper World, numbers 1930-1955, page 41
   Printers' frames and randoms 2002, Republic of Korea, number 2, page 502

adj

1. Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.
   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.
   July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/ 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.
2. (mathematics) Of or relating to probability distribution.
   A toss of loaded dice is still random, though biased.
3. (computing) Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
   The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
4. (somewhat colloquial) Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.
   A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference.
5. (somewhat colloquial) Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause, or reason.
   That was a completely random comment.
   The teacher's bartending story was interesting, but random.
   The narrative takes a random course.
6. (colloquial) Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.
   You're so random!
7. (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!