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Random vs Passing - What's the difference?

random | passing | Related terms |

Random is a related term of passing.


As nouns the difference between random and passing

is that random is a roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance while passing is death, dying; the end of something.

As adjectives the difference between random and passing

is that random is having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation while passing is that passes away; ephemeral.

As a verb passing is

.

As an adverb passing is

.

random

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
  • * (1591-1674)
  • *:Counsels, when they fly / At random , sometimes hit most happily.
  • *Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)
  • *:O, many a shaft, at random sent, / Finds mark the archer little meant!
  • (label) Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force.
  • *:
  • *:they were messagers vnto kyng Ban & Bors sent from kynge Arthur / therfor said the viij knyghtes ye shalle dye or be prysoners / for we ben knyghtes of kyng Claudas And therwith two of them dressid theire sperys / and Vlfyus and Brastias dressid theire speres and ranne to gyder with grete raundon
  • *(Edward Hall) (1497-1547)
  • *:For courageously the two kings newly fought with great random and force.
  • *1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 144:
  • *:Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare the marke, and 120 is their best at Random .
  • :
  • :
  • (label) The direction of a rake-vein.
  • :(Raymond)

    • Synonyms

    * force, momentum, speed, velocity * (unimportant person) nobody, nonentity

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.
    • The flip of a fair coin is purely random .
    The newspaper conducted a random sample of five hundred American teenagers.
    The results of the field survey look random by several different measures.
  • * July 18 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/]
    • Where the Joker preys on our fears of random , irrational acts of terror, Bane has an all-consuming, dictatorial agenda that’s more stable and permanent, a New World Order that’s been planned out with the precision of a military coup.
  • (mathematics) Of or relating to probability distribution.
    • A toss of loaded dice is still random , though biased.
  • (computing) Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
    • The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
  • (somewhat colloquial) Representative and undistinguished; typical and average; selected for no particular reason.
    • A random American off the street couldn't tell the difference.
  • (somewhat colloquial) Apropos of nothing; lacking context; unexpected; having apparent lack of plan, cause or reason.
    • That was a completely random comment.
    The teacher's bartending story was interesting, but random .
    The narrative takes a random course.
  • (colloquial) Characterized by or often saying random things; habitually using non sequiturs.
    • You're so random !

    Synonyms

    * (having unpredictable outcomes) * (of or relating to probability distribution) stochastic * (pseudorandom) pseudorandom * (representative and undistinguished) average, typical * (lacking context) arbitrary, unexpected, unplanned

    Derived terms

    * at random * non-random * pseudorandom * randomer * randomise, randomize * randomness * random number * randomly * randomology * randomosity

    See also

    * (Randomness)

    Anagrams

    *

    passing

    English

    Verb

    (head)

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • That passes away; ephemeral.
  • * 1814 , (Lord Byron), Lara , I.15:
    • And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours
  • * 2010 , Marianne Kirby, The Guardian , 21 Sep 2010:
    • It might be possible to dismiss
  • dittowatch as just another passing internet fancy. After all, hashtags are ephemeral.
  • * Shakespeare
    • her passing deformity
  • * 1835 , (Washington Irving), The Crayon Miscellany :
    • It was by dint of passing strength, / That he moved the massy stone at length.
  • * 1847 , Robert Holmes, The Case of Ireland Stated :
    • That parliament was destined, in one short hour of convulsive strength, in one short hour of passing glory, to humble the pride and alarm the fears of England.
  • vague, cursory.
  • * 2011 , Stewart J Lawrence, The Guardian , 14 Jun 2011:
    • Ardent pro-lifer Rick Santorum made one passing reference to "authenticity" as a litmus test for a conservative candidate, but if he was obliquely referring to Romney (and he was), you could be excused for missing the dig.
  • going past - passing cars.

    • Adverb

    (-)
  • * 1813 , (Percy Bysshe Shelley), Queen Mab , I:
    • One, pale as yonder waning moon, / With lips of lurid blue; / The other, rosy as the morn / When throned on ocean's wave, / It blushes o'er the world: / Yet both so passing wonderful!
  • * 2010 , Simon Hattenstone, The Guardian , 30 Oct 2010:
    • ‘I find it passing strange that convicts understand honest folk, but honest folk don't understand convicts.’

    Usage notes

    * This use is sometimes misconstrued as meaning "vaguely" or "slightly" (perhaps by confusion with such phrases as "passing fancy", under Adjective, above), leading to formations such as "more than passing clever" etc.

    Noun

  • Death, dying; the end of something.
  • The fact of going past; a movement from one place to another or a change from one state to another.
  • * (Oliver Onions), The Story of Louie
    • And since he did not see Louie by the folding door, Louie knew that in his former passings and repassings he could not have seen her either.
  • (legal) The act of approving a bill etc.
  • (sports) The act of passing a ball etc. to another player.
  • A form of juggling where several people pass props between each other, usually clubs or rings.