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Definitions for random:

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Random \Ran"dom\ (r[a^]n"d[u^]m), n. [OE. randon, OF. randon force, violence, rapidity, [`a] randon, de randon, violently, suddenly, rapidly, prob. of German origin; cf. G. rand edge, border, OHG. rant shield, edge of a shield, akin to E. rand, n. See Rand, n.] 1. Force; violence. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] For courageously the two kings newly fought with great random and force. --E. Hall. [1913 Webster] 2. 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. [1913 Webster] Counsels, when they fly At random, sometimes hit most happily. --Herrick. [1913 Webster] O, many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little meant! --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] 3. Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as, the random of a rifle ball. --Sir K. Digby. [1913 Webster] 4. (Mining) The direction of a rake-vein. --Raymond. [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Random \Ran"dom\, a. 1. 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. [1913 Webster] Some random truths he can impart. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster] So sharp a spur to the lazy, and so strong a bridle to the random. --H. Spencer. [1913 Webster] 2. (Statistics) Of, pertaining to, or resulting from a process of selection from a starting set of items, in which the probability of selecting any one object in the starting set is equal to the probability of selecting any other. [PJC] 3. (Construction) of unequal size or shape; made from components of unequal size or shape. [PJC] at random in a manner so that all possible results have an equal probability of occurrence; for processes, each possible result is counted separately although the same type of result may occur more than once . Random courses (Masonry), courses of stone of unequal thickness. Random shot, a shot not directed or aimed toward any particular object, or a shot with the muzzle of the gun much elevated. Random work (Masonry), stonework consisting of stones of unequal sizes fitted together, but not in courses nor always with flat beds. [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 2.0 :
random adj 1: lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance; "a random choice"; "bombs fell at random"; "random movements" [ant: nonrandom] 2: taken haphazardly; "a random choice"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :
138 Moby Thesaurus words for "random": accidental, adventitious, adventitiously, aimless, aleatoric, aleatory, amorphous, any which way, anyhow, anywise, arbitrarily, arbitrary, around, at random, blobby, blurred, blurry, broad, by chance, capricious, casual, casually, causeless, chance, chance-medley, chancy, chaotic, confused, designless, desultory, disarticulated, discontinuous, disjunct, disordered, dispersed, disproportionate, driftless, dysteleological, erratic, erratically, fitful, foggy, formless, fortuitous, fortuitously, frivolous, fuzzy, general, gratuitous, haphazard, haphazardly, hazy, helter-skelter, hit-or-miss, ill-defined, immethodical, imprecise, inaccurate, inchoate, incidental, incidentally, incoherent, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indefinitely, indeterminable, indeterminate, indiscriminate, indiscriminately, indistinct, inexact, inexplicable, irregular, irregularly, lax, loose, meaningless, mindless, misshapen, nonspecific, nonsymmetrical, nonsystematic, nonuniform, obscure, occasional, occasionally, odd, orderless, planless, potluck, promiscuous, purposeless, random shot, randomly, senseless, serendipitous, serendipitously, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless, spasmodic, sporadic, stochastic, straggling, straggly, stray, sweeping, systemless, unaccountable, unarranged, uncalculated, unclassified, unclear, undefined, undestined, undetermined, undirected, ungraded, unjoined, unmethodical, unmotivated, unordered, unorganized, unplain, unplanned, unpremeditated, unpremeditatedly, unsorted, unspecific, unspecified, unsymmetrical, unsystematic, unsystematically, ununiform, vague, veiled, wandering

Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) :
random adj. 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."

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) :
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 organised. "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. A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and generally get in the way. 9. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, anyone not known to the hacker speaking). "I went to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions". 10. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also J. Random, some random X. [Jargon File] (1995-12-05)

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