random access

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noun

the capacity of a videodisc or compact disc player that allows the user to select and replay any portion without starting at the beginning.

availability, as of a service or facility, whenever needed or desired: an executive's need for random access to legal experts.

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Origin of random access

First recorded in 1950–55

Words nearby random access

R. & I., randlord, rando, Randolph, random, random access, random-access memory, random coil, random error, randomization, randomize

Other definitions for random access (2 of 2)

random-access

[ ran-duhm-ak-ses ]

/ ˈræn dəmˈæk sɛs /

adjective Computers.

direct-access.

How to use random access in a sentence

Memristors made their commercial debut as nonvolatile storage, called RRAM or ReRAM, for “resistive random access memory.”
Whatever happened to DNA computing?|Lakshmi Chandrasekaran|October 27, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Placed in drinking water, fluoride can serve people who otherwise have poor access to dental care.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Have you tried to access the research that your tax dollars finance, almost all of which is kept behind a paywall?
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
Can they determine that individual citizens should not have access to rights provided by the Constitution?
The Back Alley, Low Blow-Ridden Fight to Stop Gay Marriage in Florida Is Finally Over|Jay Michaelson|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Reprinted by arrangement with The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company.
Thank Congress, Not LBJ for Great Society|Julian Zelizer, Scott Porch|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The official spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to harm future access to those embattled communities.
ISIS Fight Has a Spy Shortage, Intel Chair Says|Kimberly Dozier|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
By the last-mentioned staircase access is obtained by the general public to the Council Chamber.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
Firing a random volley, those that lived turned and fled, pursued by the scouts.
The Courier of the Ozarks|Byron A. Dunn
Each entry on the vault record book shall be signed by the persons having access to the safe.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips
The blows stung, and Black Sheep struck back at random with all the power at his command.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
And a rampant ache in my head, seconded by a medium-sized gash in the scalp, didn't make for an access of optimism at that moment.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for random access

random access

noun

another name for direct access

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012