stochastic

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: sto=chas=tic

CIDE DICTIONARY

stochastic, a. [Gr. stochastiko`s, from stocha`zesqai to aim, to guess, fr. sto`chos mark or aim.].

•  Conjectural; able to conjecture.  Whitefoot.  [1913 Webster]
•  random; chance; involving probability; opposite of deterministic.  [GG]
•  of or pertaining to a process in which a series of calculations, selections, or observations are made, each one being randomly determined as a sample from a probability distribution.

  "Where physical phenomena are modelled as a stochastic process, each subsequent calculation of a series may depend on the result of the previous calculation, as in the modelling of the process of diffusion of molecules. Many series may be calculated, and the results averaged, to estimate the most likely result. See also Markov chain."  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

stochastic, adj.
1 determined by a random distribution of probabilities.
2 (of a process) characterized by a sequence of random variables.
3 governed by the laws of probability.

Derivative

stochastically adv.

Etymology

Gk stokhastikos f. stokhazomai aim at, guess f. stokhos aim

THESAURUS

stochastic

aimless, aleatoric, aleatory, amorphous, blobby, blurred, blurry, broad, casual, causeless, chance, chancy, chaotic, confused, designless, disordered, driftless, dysteleological, foggy, fuzzy, general, haphazard, hazy, hit-or-miss, ill-defined, imprecise, inaccurate, inchoate, incoherent, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, indiscriminate, indistinct, inexact, inexplicable, lax, loose, mindless, nonspecific, obscure, orderless, promiscuous, purposeless, random, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless, stray, sweeping, unaccountable, unclear, undefined, undestined, undetermined, undirected, unmotivated, unplain, unspecified, vague, veiled