Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Old French
Origin: randon 'great speed or force', from randir 'to run'

random

 adjective
     
ran‧dom
1 happening 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 shop
2

at random

without any definite plan, aim, or pattern
choose/select/pick something at random
The gang picked their victims at random.
—randomly adverb:
seven randomly chosen numbers
—randomness noun [uncountable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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