random :

random

Kyle can choose the shirt he’ll wear for the day at random—they’re all orange. This sort of use of “at random” to mean “by chance,” is perfectly standard. (Kyle should get some new shirts, though.)Less widely accepted are a couple of slangy uses of the word, mostly by young people. In the first, “random” means “unknown,” “unidentified” as in “some random guy told me at the party that I reminded him of his old girlfriend.”The other is to use random to mean “weird,” “strange,” as in “The party at Jessica’s was so random, not what I was expecting at all!” Evidently in this expression randomness is being narrowed down to unlikelihood and that is in turn being connected with strangeness, though randomness in real life is usually quite ordinary and boring.Use of either of these two expressions in formal speech or writing is likely to annoy or confuse your audience.

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Definitions

  • a  lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance
    a random choice
    bombs fell at random
    random movements
News & Articles

  • Facebook Generates Random Graph Searches with New “Browse” Feature
    Facebook wants you to discover all of the cool things that you can search for using the new Graph Search – so much so that they’re testing a link that will generate a new, random Graph Search query every time …
    June 21, 2013 - WebProNews
  • Murder charges upgraded for suspects in deadly random shooting
    Charges were upgraded for two men accused of shooting two strangers to death during a random home-invasion robbery in February.        
    June 21, 2013 - Orlando Sentinel
  • Random thoughts while waiting on deck
    Just a few random thoughts from the on deck circle after watching the Braintree High baseball season come to a sudden ending as they were soundly whipped by eventual state champ Bridgewater-Raynham, 12-0, in the MIAA Div. 1 South Sectional quarterfinals.
    June 19, 2013 - Braintree Forum