percentage

[ per-sen-tij ]

noun

1. a rate or proportion per hundred.
2. an allowance, commission, or rate of interest calculated by percent.
3. a proportion in general:

   Only a small percentage of the class will graduate with honors.

4. gain; benefit; profit; advantage.

percentage

/ pəˈsɛntɪdʒ /

noun

1. proportion or rate per hundred parts
2. commerce the interest, tax, commission, or allowance on a hundred items
3. any proportion in relation to the whole
4. informal.
   profit or advantage

Confusables Note

See percent.

Other Words From

• per·centaged adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of percentage¹

First recorded in 1780–90; percent + -age

Example Sentences

The percentages might sound high but only apply to certain aspects of production, for example, thereby limiting the net impact, said Daniels.

From Salon

In order to do so, developers would need to include a certain percentage of affordable units — and the property must be near transit or along a major street near jobs and good schools.

From Los Angeles Times

In addition to spin polarizing half the fuels, the percentage of deuterium would be increased from the usual amount of roughly 60% or more.

From Science Daily

Medicaid enrollment fell by a stunning 12 percentage points.

From Los Angeles Times

The earliest votes counted in the 45th Congressional District showed Steel leading by more than 5 percentage points, but that lead vanished as elections officials counted ballots deposited in drop boxes and sent by mail.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bonus
• chunk
• fee
• interest
• percent
• proportion
• rate
• ratio
• royalty

More About Percentage

What is a percentage?

Percentage is a rate or proportion per hundred, as in This graph shows the percentage of homes that have a microwave.

Percentage is also used more generally to mean any proportion, as in Studies have shown that a large percentage of people love cute animals.

A percent is one one-hundredth (1/100) of something. Percentage refers to the rate or proportion of that one hundred. Usually, you will see the word percentage used in math equations or statistics or when someone is measuring the increase and decrease in rates.

Informally, percentage can mean a gain or advantage, as in There is no percentage to be gained from lying to the sheriff.

Generally, percentage and percent can be used interchangeably when referring to vague proportions. However, the word percentage never follows an exact number. In this case, only percent can be used in The number of pet owners increased by 10 percent.

A percentile is any of the possible 100 equal parts a range of values can be divided into. A given percentile means that the percentage of all possible outcomes is lower or lesser than the given percentile. For example, if you score in the 92nd percentile of an exam, you scored higher than 92 percent of all other people who took the exam.

Example: After careful measuring, the percentage of people who hated pineapple on pizza was found to be significantly higher than first thought.

Where does percentage come from?

The first records of the word percentage come from around 1780. It combines the word percent, referring to “one-hundredth” or a rate per one hundred, and the suffix –age in the sense of “quantity, measure, or charge.” Percentage is a measurement of something per hundred.

Percentage is an incredibly common way we divide things into proportions. Some common things we express using percentage include how much of our daily fat a food contains, how much you should tip a waitperson, and how confident a weatherperson is that it will rain today.

Did you know … ?

What are some other forms related to percentage?

• percentaged (adjective)

What are some synonyms for percentage?

• portion
• chunk
• rate
• ratio

What are some words that share a root or word element with percentage?

• percent
• percentile
• century

What are some words that often get used in discussing percentage?

• rate
• proportion
• mathematics
• statistics
• measuring
• points

What are some words percentage may be commonly confused with?

• percent
• percentile

How is percentage used in real life?

Percentage is a very commonly used measurement in rates and proportions.

Congrats Mumbai voters. 41 to 52% is actually nearly 25% increase in percentage. Big jump. Though a long distance to catch up.

— Dr. S.Y. Quraishi (@DrSYQuraishi) April 24, 2014

By far, the lowest percentage of athletes scoring below the threshold was at Wisconsin. Only 2/122 athletes scored lower than the threshold.

— Sara Ganim (@sganim) January 7, 2014

A surprisingly high percentage of our phone interviews have chickens in the background

— Planet FM (@PlanetAuckland) January 23, 2019

 

 

Try using percentage!

Is percentage used correctly in the following sentence? 

By the end of the day, 80 percentage of the kittens had been adopted.