Word family noun randomness adjective random adverb randomly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrandomran‧dom /ˈrændəm/ ●●○ AWL adjective 1 CHANCE/BY CHANCEhappening or chosen without any definite plan, aim, or pattern The company has introduced random drug testing of its employees. A few random shots were fired. We looked at a random sample of 120 families. a random selection of women who were in the shop2 → at random3 informal strange, unusual, or unexpected She's great - she's just so random! —randomly adverb seven randomly chosen numbers —randomness noun [uncountable]COLLOCATIONSnounsa random sampleA test was carried out on a random sample of the cattle.a random selectionHe looked at a random selection of the files.a random numberPick a random number.a random sequenceThey were asked to memorize a random sequence of numbers.random checks/testsHe believes the police should be able to carry out random breath tests.random violenceThe family were caught up in the random violence that haunts a neighbourhood ruled by gangs.adverbscompletely/entirely randomThe atomic particles seem to move in a completely random direction.apparently/seemingly randoma wave of apparently random attackspurely/truly randoma purely random sequence of numbersphrasesin random orderThe names are in random order. Examples from the Corpus
random• I have also decided to do some random attacks as a means of confusing law enforcement.• It was the random collisions melding the rocky substances, plus turbulent accretions, that were to make up the inner planets.• Random dashes of color highlight the painting.• The union believes that the random drug testing of employees is an invasion of their privacy.• random drug tests• Median and minimum arterial-alveolar oxygen tension ratios for ventilated infants on the first day were significantly lower in the random group.• At random, I opened an earlier page.• Contemporary chaos theory talks about so-called strange attractors, which are the ordering principles within such apparently random patterns.• A few random shots were fired, but the battle was over.• To keep shifting the target all the time makes life impossible and a sort of random walk develops.• Because at random was exactly how humans were trying to restore ecosystems.random sample• The research involves collecting data from two random samples.• Y., which works mainly for ad agencies and is following a Nielsen-like model of audience measurement through random sampling.• Remember, all forms of probability sampling involve random sampling at some stage in the selection process.• It gives some idea of the cell / electrode arrangement and the random sampling of activity.• The survey was based on telephone interviews with a random sample of Americans.• A 10 percent random sample of derived polygons was evaluated to determine the measure of agreement between the initial and derived descriptions.• For instance, suppose we want to take a random sample of ten students from a class of 50.• The results are not a random sample of the vehicles on the road at all.From Longman Business Dictionaryrandomran‧dom /ˈrændəm/ adjective1random sample/ check/test etc a sample, check etc in which things or people are chosen without any particular reason or pattern so that they will include a typical mixture of the larger group they representThe group polled a random sample of US manufacturers.Pennsylvania conducts random checks on trucks to see that they are properly maintained.a rule requiring random drug testing of airline employees → compare quota sample under sample12random error/effect etc an error etc that happens without any pattern, so it is difficult to say when it will happen again or why it happensRandom errors in the survey will not matter greatly.3at random without any particular reason or patternPollsters interviewed 1000 adults picked at random in 50 states.Origin random (1300-1400) Old French randon “great speed or force”, from randir “to run” 