| 词汇 | thesaurus_articles_happening-by-chance-with-no-cause-or-reason |
| 释义 | happening by chance with no cause or reasonThese words describe things, especially events, that happen by chance and do not follow a plan, or have a reason or cause. The most common word for this, and the one with the broadest meaning, is random. Random can be used to describe things that happen, are done, or are chosen by chance and without intentionally making it happen. It was a random encounter between two long-lost friends. The study was based on a random selection of students in their first two years of university. My nan always has a random assortment of sweets available. You can also use the adjective chance to describe things that happen in a way that is not planned and does not appear to have a cause or a reason. A chance meeting brought them back together. UsageThe adjective chance is only used before a noun. It was a chance encounter. Not: The encounter was chance. If you want to say that something was done or happened by chance and was not planned or based on reason, you can say it is arbitrary. Arbitrary is slightly more disapproving than random or chance. It seems like the decision to cancel such a successful TV programme was completely arbitrary. We expect our politicians to fix the world’s ills in their first hundred days in office - an entirely arbitrary number, by the way. Haphazard can be used to describe things that seem to happen or exist without any plan or without any order. It is a disapproving word. Her cabinets were stuffed with a haphazard jumble of books, clothes, tins of soup, and papers. The meeting was planned in such a haphazard way, I have no idea how long it will be or what’s happening next. When something happens by chance, but it seems like it might have been planned or happened for a reason, you can emphasize that it happened by chance by calling it coincidental. Any similarity between the characters in this book and real people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The fact that the abbreviation for Seasonal Affective Disorder spells “sad” is entirely coincidental. If you do something and did not plan to do it, you can say that the thing you did was inadvertent or unintentional. Both these words are usually used to describe things that are negative, such as errors or mistakes. A good editor will catch and correct all inadvertent typos in a text. This system prevents the inadvertent disclosure of patient information to unauthorized parties. The omission was completely unintentional, I can assure you. The number of unintentional injuries due to slips and falls increases during the winter months. The opposite of unintentional is intentional. Intentional can refer to negative or positive things, but is more often used of negative things. He has been very intentional in including everying in planning meetings. The statue wasn't accidentally knocked off its pedestal; its destruction was clearly intentional. Accidental can also be used to describe bad things that happen to you by chance. He was charged with accidental discharge of a firearm. She clearly didn’t mean to delete all those files - it was accidental. If something happens by chance, and it gives you an advantage over someone else, or it is a good thing, you can call it fortuitous. Fortuitous is slightly more formal than accidental or random. Through a series of extremely fortuitous events, she landed a job, an apartment, and a new car all in one weekend. I wasn’t expecting to run into you here! How fortuitous – I was just about to call you and ask if you wanted to meet up for coffee. For more words related to people or things that do not seem to have any plan or purpose, see the article at aimless. |
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