randomly

American  

[ran-duhm-lee] / ˈræn dəm li /

adverb

1. without definite aim, reason, sense, or pattern.

   This poem just seems like a bunch of words randomly put together.

   Freckles generally appear randomly on the face and upper shoulders.

2. Statistics. in a way that gives each item in a set the equal probability of being chosen.

   A survey of 309 women aged 15 to 49 was conducted in nine randomly selected villages.

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Other Word Forms

• nonrandomly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of randomly

random ( def. ) + -ly

Explanation

Anything done randomly has no plan or strategy. If you choose your college courses randomly, you may end up studying some unusual topics. Hope you enjoy Advanced History of Cheese-Making! When you pick the name of a prize winner from, you're choosing randomly. In other words, there's no specific method to making the selection; you're simply grabbing a random slip of paper. Sometimes this adverb implies chaos: "Clothes were tossed randomly around her room, while a laundry basket stood empty." This haphazard sense of both randomly and random grew from the original definition, "at great speed."

Example Sentences

Randomly, I saw a Teach for America group promoting in the quad at school.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2025

Randomly selected fans will receive an access code before an Oct.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 19, 2023

"Randomly you can be doing something and the tears come."

From BBC • Jul. 15, 2022

Randomly timed check-ins are fun between friends; at scale, they’re surveillance.

From New York Times • May 10, 2022

Intercept the Omnictionary poster, who according to the Randomly capitalized Evidence is 5.

From "Paper Towns" by John Green

Related Words

• aimlessly
• carelessly
• casually