AT RANDOM

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does at random mean? 

• AT RANDOM (adverb)
  The adverb AT RANDOM has 1 sense:

1. in a random manner

  Familiarity information: AT RANDOM used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AT RANDOM (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a random manner

Synonyms:

arbitrarily; at random; every which way; haphazardly; indiscriminately; randomly; willy-nilly

Context example:

bullets were fired into the crowd at random

 Context examples 

The sample is then treated with a DNA damaging agent that cleaves at random base pairs.

(DNA Footprinting, NCI Thesaurus)

It can run in families, but usually it strikes at random.

(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

The men were assigned at random to receive either a placebo or a daily supplement containing 5 milligrams of folic acid and 30 milligrams of zinc.

(Zinc, folic acid supplement does not improve male fertility, National Institutes of Health)

They were strewn at random all over the ground, and one tin of meat had been crushed into pieces so as to extract the contents.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I think they must have been taken out at random, for I am sure I tasted aniseed water, anchovy sauce, and salad dressing.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I had stolen back to the cabin, slipped once more into my shoes, and laid my hand at random on a bottle of wine, and now, with this for an excuse, I made my reappearance on the deck.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A very short visit to Mrs. Allen, in which Henry talked at random, without sense or connection, and Catherine, rapt in the contemplation of her own unutterable happiness, scarcely opened her lips, dismissed them to the ecstasies of another tete-a-tete; and before it was suffered to close, she was enabled to judge how far he was sanctioned by parental authority in his present application.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

She talked with a great deal of reason, and at least equal affection—but she had too much to urge for Emma's attention; it was soon gone to Brunswick Square or to Donwell; she forgot to attempt to listen; and when Mrs. Weston ended with, We have not yet had the letter we are so anxious for, you know, but I hope it will soon come, she was obliged to pause before she answered, and at last obliged to answer at random, before she could at all recollect what letter it was which they were so anxious for.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“My second is a piece of advice: keep the boy close beside you, and when you need help, halloo. I'm off to seek it for you, and that itself will show you if I speak at random. Good-bye, Jim.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

As I did not even know where Miss Betsey lived, I wrote a long letter to Peggotty, and asked her, incidentally, if she remembered; pretending that I had heard of such a lady living at a certain place I named at random, and had a curiosity to know if it were the same.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)