average

American  

[av-er-ij, av-rij] / ˈæv ər ɪdʒ, ˈæv rɪdʒ /

noun

• averages
  plural

1. a quantity, rating, or the like that represents or approximates an arithmetic mean.

   Her golf average is in the 90s. My average in science has gone from B to C this semester.

2. a typical amount, rate, degree, etc.; norm.

3. Statistics. arithmetic mean.

4. Mathematics. a quantity intermediate to a set of quantities.

5. Commerce.

   1. a charge paid by the master of a ship for such services as pilotage or towage.

   2. an expense, partial loss, or damage to a ship or cargo.

   3. the incidence of such an expense or loss to the owners or their insurers.

   4. an equitable apportionment among all the interested parties of such an expense or loss.

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adjective

1. of or relating to an average; estimated by average; forming an average.

   The average rainfall there is 180 inches.

2. typical; common; ordinary.

   The average secretary couldn't handle such a workload. His grades were nothing special, only average.

verb (used with object)

• averages,
  present (3rd person singular)
• averaged,
  past participle,  past
• averaging
  present participle

1. to find an average value for (a variable quantity); reduce to a mean.

   We averaged the price of milk in five neighborhood stores.

2. (of a variable quantity) to have as its arithmetic mean.

   Wheat averages 56 pounds to a bushel.

3. to do or have on the average.

   He averages seven hours of sleep a night.

verb (used without object)

• averages,
  present (3rd person singular)
• averaged,
  past participle,  past
• averaging
  present participle

1. to have or show an average.

   to average as expected.

verb phrase

1. average up to purchase more of a security or commodity at a higher price to take advantage of a contemplated further rise in prices.

2. average out

   1. to come out of a security or commodity transaction with a profit or without a loss.

   2. to reach an average or other figure.

      His taxes should average out to about a fifth of his income.

3. average down to purchase more of a security or commodity at a lower price to reduce the average cost of one's holdings.

idioms

1. on the / an average, usually; typically.

   She can read 50 pages an hour, on the average.

average British  

/ ˈævrɪdʒ, ˈævərɪdʒ /

noun

1. the typical or normal amount, quality, degree, etc

   above average in intelligence

2. Also called: arithmetic mean.  the result obtained by adding the numbers or quantities in a set and dividing the total by the number of members in the set

   the average of 3, 4, and 8 is 5

3. (of a continuously variable ratio, such as speed) the quotient of the differences between the initial and final values of the two quantities that make up the ratio

   his average over the journey was 30 miles per hour

4. maritime law

   1. a loss incurred or damage suffered by a ship or its cargo at sea

   2. the equitable apportionment of such loss among the interested parties

5. (often plural) stock exchange a simple or weighted average of the prices of a selected group of securities computed in order to facilitate market comparisons

6. usually; typically

   on average, he goes twice a week

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adjective

1. usual or typical

2. mediocre or inferior

   his performance was only average

3. constituting a numerical average

   the average age

   an average speed

4. approximately typical of a range of values

   the average contents of a matchbox

verb

1. (tr) to obtain or estimate a numerical average of

2. (tr) to assess the general quality of

3. (tr) to perform or receive a typical number of

   to average eight hours' work a day

4. (tr) to divide up proportionately

   they averaged the profits among the staff

5. (tr) to amount to or be on average

   the children averaged 15 years of age

6. (intr) stock exchange to purchase additional securities in a holding whose price has fallen ( average down ) or risen ( average up ) in anticipation of a speculative profit after further increases in price

average Scientific  

/ ăv′ər-ĭj /

1. A number, especially the arithmetic mean, that is derived from and considered typical or representative of a set of numbers.

2. Compare arithmetic mean median mode

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average Cultural  

1. A single number that represents a set of numbers. Means, medians, and modes are kinds of averages; usually, however, the term average refers to a mean.

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Usage

What’s the difference between average, mean, median, and mode? In the context of mathematics and statistics, the word average refers to what’s more formally called the mean, which is the sum of a set of values divided by the number of values. In contrast, the median is the middle number in a set of values when those values are arranged from smallest to largest, while the mode of a set of values is the most frequently repeated value in the set. The word average is of course also very commonly used in more general ways. In math, though, it’s helpful to use more specific terms when determining the most representative or common value in a set of numbers. To illustrate the difference, let’s look at an example set of seven values: 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9. To get the mean of this set, you’d add up all the values (2+3+3+4+6+8+9=35) and then divide that total by the number of values (7), resulting in a mean of 5. This is what most people are referring to when they refer to the average of some set of numbers. To find the median, you have to find the one that’s sequentially in the middle. In a set of seven numbers arranged in increasing value, the median is the fourth number (since there are three before and three after). In this set (2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9), the median is 4. When a set has an even number of values, the median is the mean of the two middle values. The mode is simply the value that shows up the most. In the example set, the mode is 3, since it occurs twice and all the other values occur only once. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between average, mean, median, and mode.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• averageness
  noun
• superaverageness
  noun
• averageable
  adjective
• subaverage
  adjective
• superaverage
  adjective
• unaveraged
  adjective
• underaverage
  adjective
• well-averaged
  adjective
• averagely
  adverb
• subaveragely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• averages
  plural

Participles

• averaging
  present
• averaged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• average
  simple
• averages
  simple
• have averaged
  perfect
• has averaged
  perfect
• am averaging
  progressive
• are averaging
  progressive
• is averaging
  progressive
• have been averaging
  perfect progressive
• has been averaging
  perfect progressive

Past

• averaged
  simple
• had averaged
  perfect
• was averaging
  progressive
• were averaging
  progressive
• had been averaging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will average
  simple
• will have averaged
  perfect
• will be averaging
  progressive
• will have been averaging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of average

First recorded in 1485–95; earlier averay “charge on goods shipped,” originally, “duty” (with -age replacing -ay ), from Middle French avarie, from Old Italian avaria, of disputed origin; perhaps from Arabic ʿawārīyah “damaged merchandise” (from ʿawār “blemish, fault, flaw”) or akin to Old French aveir, avoir “goods, property” ( see avoirdupois ( def. ))

Explanation

If something is average, it's ordinary and not very special. You might say a movie was average if you thought it was just okay. Average can describe what's true most of the time, as in, “The average rainfall in Seattle is fifty-two inches.” It can also be used in a mathematical and more precise way. On his English tests, Dylan received grades of 92%, 85% and 94%. His average grade was 90%, or the sum of the test scores divided by the number of tests taken.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

average averages averaged averaging

For students admitted in 2025, the Justice Department reported average scores on the Medical College Admission Test of 514 for Black students and 513 for Latino students.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Daytime highs will be close to the late September average in most regions but some cold nights are expected with frost possible in a few locations on Thursday morning.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

The investment implication: Only during the first busy week of earnings season will you earn a return, on average, for incurring the risk of high-beta stocks.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

The average selling price for KB Home houses decreased to $473,000 from $475,700.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

The parents of a child provided, on average, half the content of that feature; the grandparents, a quarter; the great-grandparents, an eighth—and so forth, all the way back to the most distant ancestor.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Its notice said admitted Black and Latino applicants had lower averages on those measures than both admitted and rejected white and Asian applicants.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

The agency said most production and trade flows may not return to preconflict averages until the second quarter of 2027.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

The Environment Agency predicts that if rainfall averages through the autumn and winter months, most of England will be in recovery from drought or will have returned to normal conditions by spring 2026.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

Whereas in the U.S., directly following a hike, the relative return averages a loss of almost 2%.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Sometimes a reliance on averages can have more serious consequences than misshapen cubes.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

A lot of what he is doing worked well during his time at Marseille - from 2024 to 2026 - where they averaged 2.3 goals per game.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

On Tuesday, the 30-year rate averaged 7.22%, according to a survey by Mortgage News Daily.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

Last year the program averaged 9.1 million weekly viewers, making it the most watched non-sports program in prime time.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

That month, the top 10 high-yield savings accounts averaged a 4% interest rate, according to Bankrate.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

We have averaged about ten and a half miles a day; eleven and a half omitting the two days spent waiting out the blizzard.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

The benefit is fairly modest, averaging about $9,000 per child annually, in a country where childcare costs can exceed $30,000 a year.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

Instead, he gradually narrowed his feet, now averaging 19 inches apart rather than 31.5 inches apart from April and May.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

The two were almost identical for runs in behind, Jackson averaging 13 per 90 and Watkins 12.7, although the Englishman made slightly more runs which finished inside the penalty area.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Diesel, the fuel of choice for heavy-duty commercial trucks, is averaging $5.62 a gallon nationwide, compared with an average of $5.30 a gallon just a month ago, according to AAA.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026

There was the fact that they were an unusually big and athletic bunch, averaging 190 pounds, beefier and stronger on average than the juniors and seniors.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Related Words

• mediocre
• moderate
• ordinary
• regular