randomness
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Randomness is the quality of having no apparent order. If you want a really good password that no one can hack, you want a lot of randomness in it — no numbers or words that clearly pertain to your life. The word random comes from an old French word for running (from the time before perfect oval running tracks). So randomness is like the quality of running all over the place. If you want to conduct a survey of vegetable shoppers, you’ll want to insure a degree of randomness by interviewing shoppers at all different markets, not just the fancy health food store.
Vocabulary lists containing randomness
Board Game Vocabulary
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Sunrise Over Fallujah
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"Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands" by Susan Carol McCarthy, Chapters 12–25
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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.
Randomness makes your brain try to figure things out, so it creates false narratives.
From The Verge • Aug. 2, 2022
Randomness can refer to an anarchic process which throws up data without rhyme or reason - like the roll of a die or flip of a coin.
From BBC • Dec. 31, 2021
Cook explained that, "Randomness is very discomforting to people."
From Salon • Jul. 24, 2021
“Somewhat counterintuitively, it gives people more sense of control to imagine that, rather than random things happening, there are these shadowy groups and agencies that are controlling it. Randomness is very discomforting to people.”
From Washington Post • May 1, 2020
Randomness is not easy to obtain when playing cards, either, since shuffling a deck two or three times is not enough to destroy whatever order it might have.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
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.
