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The Collaborative International Dictionary
at random

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.

    Some random truths he can impart.
    --Wordsworth.

    So sharp a spur to the lazy, and so strong a bridle to the random.
    --H. Spencer.

  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.

  3. (Construction) of unequal size or shape; made from components of unequal size or shape.

    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.

Wiktionary
at random

adv. 1 randomly 2 haphazardly

WordNet
at random

adv. in a random manner; "the houses were randomly scattered"; "bullets were fired into the crowd at random" [syn: randomly, indiscriminately, haphazardly, willy-nilly, arbitrarily, every which way]

Usage examples of "at random".

A similar-looking machine proved to be a wall-builder: with the same lunatic zeal as the bridge-building device, it began at the touch of a stud to throw up high walls at random all along the street.

We had merely struck, at random, a limited part of something of incalculable extent.

But Bracewell thought that a space probe might send us a star map, and since the stars are placed at random in the sky the delay times could be graphical coordinates.