aleatory
Law. depending on a contingent event: an aleatory contract.
of or relating to accidental causes; of luck or chance; unpredictable: an aleatory element.
Music. employing the element of chance in the choice of tones, rests, durations, rhythms, dynamics, etc.
Origin of aleatory
1- Also a·le·a·tor·ic [ey-lee-uh-tawr-ik, -tor-, al-ee-]. /ˌeɪ li əˈtɔr ɪk, -ˈtɒr-, ˌæl i-/.
Words Nearby aleatory
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use aleatory in a sentence
This was the aleatory element in life, the element of risk and loss, good or bad fortune.
Folkways | William Graham SumnerThe aleatory element has always been the connecting link between the struggle for existence and religion.
Folkways | William Graham SumnerIt was only by religious rites that the aleatory element in the struggle for existence could be controlled.
Folkways | William Graham SumnerThe folkways, deeply concerned in the aleatory interest, work out the applications.
Folkways | William Graham SumnerThere is behind them an assumption as to the character and logic of the superior powers who rule the aleatory interest.
Folkways | William Graham Sumner
British Dictionary definitions for aleatory
aleatoric (ˌeɪlɪəˈtɒrɪk)
/ (ˈeɪlɪətərɪ, -trɪ) /
dependent on chance
(esp of a musical composition) involving elements chosen at random by the performer
Origin of aleatory
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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