decile

American  

[des-il, -ahyl] / ˈdɛs ɪl, -aɪl /

noun

Statistics.

1. one of the values of a variable that divides the distribution of the variable into ten groups having equal frequencies.

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decile British  

/ -aɪl, ˈdɛsɪl /

noun

1. statistics

   1. one of nine actual or notional values of a variable dividing its distribution into ten groups with equal frequencies: the ninth decile is the value below which 90% of the population lie See also percentile

   2. a tenth part of a distribution

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Etymology

Origin of decile

First recorded in 1880–85; dec- + -ile

Example Sentences

The top decile of funds in that PivotalPath index returned nearly 30%.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 24, 2026

Among the top decile of DoorDash customers, the frequency of use has increased, and not only for food delivery.

From Barron's • Jan. 16, 2026

We are using terms like "highly deprived" and "most deprived" to refer to the group of neighbourhoods in the first decile.

From BBC • Nov. 27, 2025

Consider the performance of a hypothetical portfolio that buys the 10% of stocks with the highest betas and sells short the decile of stocks with the lowest betas.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 23, 2025

Relatively well- off workers in the eighth decile, or 10 percent-sized slice, where earnings are about $20 an hour, are now making 106.6 percent of what they earned in 1973.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich