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randomly

randomly

126 2.4
In a way that has no clear plan or order
  • adverb
  • /ˈrændəmli/
translation icon : aleatoriamente
  • Half of the participants were randomly selected to complete the task in the recording condition first.
  • randomly selected
  • randomly assigned
  • randomly selected participants

I think, let's say you and I randomly took a word.

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Examples

  • I randomly chose a book from the shelf to read during my lunch break.

  • So just one day randomly, I quit drinking.

  • Now that only happens randomly in individual trees.

  • Another tip is to randomly change the subject a lot.

  • In addition, a few other participants would be randomly selected and tested for drug use.

    Academic text (1990)
  • One half of the sample was randomly selected to receive the ATL items first.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Teachers and administrators in 14 randomly selected schools in Ankara made up the sample group.

    Academic text (2011)
  • We recruited participants from the emergency department waiting room during randomly selected 6-hour blocks of time.

    Academic text (2011)
  • You could have some faulty hard drives that randomly erase various things.

  • At the festival, guests were randomly assigned to different activities to promote interaction.

Synonyms

by chance
vsrandomly
66 2.3

Happening without planning or intending

is about no set pattern rather than mere accident or coincidence
spontaneously
vsrandomly
48 4.4

To act naturally without planning or being forced

is about absence of pattern rather than internal, natural origin
at random
vsrandomly
44 2.7

By chance, without any plan or order

has identical meaning but appears as a common single adverb
arbitrarily
vsrandomly
27 5.5

In a way that has no clear reason or plan

is mainly about absence of pattern rather than lack of reason
indiscriminately
vsrandomly
22 6.7

Doing things without careful choice or noticing differences

means patternless action but adds a sense of ignoring differences
erratically
vsrandomly
13 6.4

In a way that is not regular or easy to predict

stresses lack of a pattern without highlighting sudden changes
every which way
vsrandomly
  • Informal
12 4.9

In many different directions in a messy, random way

denotes lack of pattern more generally, not necessarily physical directions
haphazardly
vsrandomly
9 6.1

In a way that is not planned or organized

is similar but focuses on lack of pattern rather than messiness
unpredictably
vsrandomly
4 4.8

In a way you cannot guess before it happens

focuses on lack of pattern rather than on unforeseeability
irregularly
vsrandomly
4 4.2

Happens at different times and not in a steady way

is closer to general patternlessness rather than timing inconsistency
willy-nilly
vsrandomly
  • Informal
1 8.2

In a random, messy way without a plan

is more neutral, stressing absence of pattern not carelessness
stochastically
vsrandomly
  • Specialized
9.7

In a way that uses random chance to choose results

is the everyday way to say absence of any set pattern

Antonyms

31 3.4

In a way people expect

27 4.0

In an organized step by step way

How Random

haphazardly
9 6.1
randomly
126 2.4
irregularly
4 4.2

Surface Forms

randomly positive

Morphology

randomly = random (transparent) = random + ly

Formation is the regular adverbial derivation from the adjective 'random' using the productive suffix '-ly', so the meaning is directly derived.

Etymology

The word randomly grew from an old idea of quick movement without a plan, and a helpful way to remember it is to think of ran — like things that 'run' around with no set path. So to do something randomly is to do it 'without a specific pattern or order'.