Definition of "aleatory" [a•le•a•to•ry]

• Dependent on chance, luck, or an uncertain outcome: an aleatory contract between an oil prospector and a landowner. (adjective)
• Of or characterized by gambling: aleatory contests. (adjective)
• Music Using or consisting of sounds to be chosen by the performer or left to chance; indeterminate: An object placed inside the piano added an aleatory element to the piece. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The word aleatory, whether used in its original and limited sense, or in its derived extension as a technical term of the civil law, was appropriate and convenient; one especially likely to be remembered by any person who had read Mr. Sumner's speech, -- and everybody had read it; the secretary himself doubtless got the suggestion of determining the question "by lot" from it."
• "Merely "aleatory" decision -- by actual use of dice -- he rejects as illicit, though towards the close of the book one of its most delectable episodes ends in his excusing Mr. Justice Bridoye for settling law cases in that way."
• "The title says it all - "aleatory," meaning dependent on chance or luck."