random

/ˈrændəm/

/ˈrændəm/

Something that’s random is lacking in order, plan, or purpose. It happens totally by chance, like the random picking of lottery numbers or unplanned random acts of kindness.

Sometime in the 1980s, teenage slang hijacked the adjective random and tried to turn it into a word meaning weird, odd or out of place. As in "Dude! That guy wearing purple spandex at the party was so random!" But don't fall for it. Something that’s truly random is totally governed by chance and has no specific pattern, like choosing a card at random from a magician’s deck.

Definitions of random

1. adjective

   lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance
   “a random choice”

   “bombs fell at random”

   “random movements”

   synonyms:

   ergodic

   positive recurrent aperiodic state of stochastic systems; tending in probability to a limiting form that is independent of the initial conditions

   haphazard, hit-or-miss

   dependent upon or characterized by chance

   stochastic

   being or having a random variable

   antonyms:

   nonrandom

   not random

   purposive

   having or showing or acting with a purpose or design