random error
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of random error
First recorded in 1935–40
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However, further analysis showed that these events were not random errors.
From Science Daily • Mar. 15, 2026
But these are not random errors resulting perhaps from the inexperience of 20-year-old staffers.
From Slate • Jun. 5, 2025
It identifies the aspects of the structure that persist even if there are random errors, or noise, in the underlying measurements.
From Scientific American • Sep. 26, 2022
By definition, random errors cancel each other out.
From Slate • Aug. 12, 2021
But to say that this virus might mutate is a misleading truism; viruses continually mutate as they replicate, introducing small random errors into their genomes; and coronaviruses mutate more abundantly than many others.
From New York Times • Nov. 3, 2020
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
