Idioms

at random

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at random

With no discernable pattern or reasoning. We will choose a raffle winner at random. There are a lot of problems with your paper. To start with, you just seem to move from point to point at random. This guy's breaking into houses completely at random and not taking anything? So then what's his motive?
See also: random
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

at random

by chance; haphazard. The lottery numbers are chosen at random. As a prank, the children dialed phone numbers at random.
See also: random
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

at random

Without order or fixed purpose, haphazardly, as in Jackson Pollock dropped paints on canvas seemingly at random. Originally this phrase meant "very speedily" and "heedlessly." Shakespeare had the present usage in 1 Henry VI (5:3): "He talks at random; sure the man is mad." [Late 1500s]
See also: random
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

at random

Without a governing design, method, or purpose; unsystematically: chose a card at random from the deck.
See also: random
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
These decays happen at random intervals, quantum mechanics dictates.
"Librarians and teachers have been using audiobooks for years in the classroom, but parents aren't making the logical connection at home," says Amanda D'Acierno, director of audio publishing at Random House.
Once again, changes at Random House have made headlines in papers throughout the country.
The loop body maintains the invariant by inserting J into the sequence; J is the first element when T = J, otherwise J is placed after one of the J -- 1 existing elements at random.
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