at random

[imchongjun]

Hello, teachers.
Would you tell me what "at random" means in the following sentence?

"I'll do my best," he said at random.

I understand such usage of this phrase as "choose a card at random from the deck" but I am not sure what "to say at random" means. Does this mean "he said what happened to come up in his mind at that moment"? I appreciate your help very much.

[mykwyner]

It probably means that he spoke out of turn or his response was inappropriate.

[RonBee]

"I'll do my best," he said at random.

My response:

How can you say something at random?

I can't, offhand, conceive of any context in which that sentence would make sense.

[vil]

I’m not a teacher.

Hi imchongjun,

There are a few synonyms of the expression in question: randomly, indiscriminately, haphazardly, willy-nilly, arbitrarily, every which way

randomly = arbitrarily = haphazardly = every which way = in a random manner

indiscriminately = in an indiscriminate manner

willy-nilly = without having a choice

at random = without order or fixed purpose, haphazardly, as in Jackson
Pollock dropped paints on canvas seemingly at random. Originally this phrase meant "very speedily" and "heedlessly." Shakespeare had the present usage in 1 Henry VI (5:3): "He talks at random; sure the man is mad."

Reagrds,

V.

[mykwyner]

"The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe."

This quotation from the immortal genius, Frank Zappa, is delivered entirely at random.