random access

Save This Word!

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.

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Question 1 of 8

Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

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, randomize, random line

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