stochastic
7 synonyms and 2 antonyms for stochastic, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Adjective — Involving or governed by chance, so that individual outcomes cannot be predicted exactly even though the pattern of outcomes over many trials can be described by probability.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. adjective
Involving or governed by chance, so that individual outcomes cannot be predicted exactly even though the pattern of outcomes over many trials can be described by probability.
“Share prices are usually modelled as a stochastic process rather than a fixed curve.”
Opposites
2. adjective technical
Of a computational method: using randomly chosen samples or steps rather than working through every possibility, in order to reach a good answer faster.
“Stochastic gradient descent updates the model from one small batch at a time instead of the whole dataset.”
How to Use Stochastic
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Technical. Common in statistics, finance, physics and machine learning; rare in ordinary conversation.
Etymology
From Greek stokhastikos "able to guess, skilled at aiming", from stokhos "a mark or target aimed at".
Full origin of stochastic →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between stochastic and random?
In everyday speech they overlap, but "random" describes a single unpredictable event while "stochastic" describes a system or process whose behaviour over time follows a probability distribution. A coin flip is random; the sequence of thousands of flips is a stochastic process.
What is the difference between stochastic and deterministic?
A deterministic system always produces the same output from the same starting conditions. A stochastic one includes an element of chance, so the same starting conditions can produce different outcomes each time it runs.
How do you pronounce stochastic?
Stuh-KAS-tik, with the stress on the second syllable. The "ch" is a hard k sound, as in "chaos".