aleatory
adjective
uk/ˈeɪ.li.ə.tər.i/us/ˈeɪ.li.ə.tɔːr.i/formal
happening, done, orchosenbychance,ratherthanaccordingto anyplan:
We need atheorythattakesintoaccountthe aleatorynatureofhistory.
I canlistnamesofpoetswhom Iconsidersignificant, but any suchlistissomewhataleatory.
Synonym
random
music,art,literaturespecialized
Aleatorymusic,art, etc.involvessomepartsthat arechosenbychance, forexampleby acomputeror by aperformer. :
JohnCage has been akeyproponentof aleatorymusic.
Heremarksthat aleatoryexperimentsin writingriskbeing moreinterestingto thewriterthan to thereader.
finance & economics,lawspecialized
An aleatorycontract(= alegalagreement)relatesto anuncertaineventthat may or may nothappenor whoseresultsomeone cannotcontrol:
Aninsurancepolicyis a verycommontypeof aleatorycontract.
- He has ageniusfor making hiscarefullystructuredstoriesseemspontaneousand aleatory.
- In thecourseof theplaythecharactersgotheirrandom, aleatoryways.
- Thepieceis anexampleof aleatorymusic: theperformersare given a set ofmusicalbuildingblockstocombinein differentways.
Chance and randomness
- accident
- arbitrarily
- arbitrariness
- arbitrary
- as luck would have itidiom
- fluke
- fluky
- fortuitous
- fortuitously
- fortuitousness
- luck
- luck intosomething
- more by accident than designidiom
- more by luck than judgmentidiom
- non-purposive
- randomized
- randomly
- randomness
- serendipitous
- stumble intosomething
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Technical music terms
Official documents