percentile

noun
per·​cen·​tile | \ pər-ˈsen-ˌtī(-ə)l How to pronounce percentile (audio) \

Definition of percentile

: a value on a scale of 100 that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it a score in the 95th percentile

Examples of percentile in a Sentence

His height and weight are in the 80th percentile for boys his age.

Recent Examples on the Web

It's dropped that low or lower just three times since 1955, and is now in the 5th percentile of readings. Shawn Tully, Fortune, "Bonds Are The Most Expensive They’ve Been in 64 Years. Here’s What That Means for Your Portfolio," 20 Aug. 2019 Those levels are approximately the same as the 90th percentile contamination measured by independent testing in Flint, Michigan in August and September, 2015, when Flint was not using any chemical treatment to reduce lead contamination in its water. Josiah Bates, Time, "Newark Officials Providing Bottled Water to 15,000 Homes Over Lead Contamination Concerns. Here’s What You Need to Know About the City's Water Crisis," 16 Aug. 2019 That’s before the Trump cuts, which further lowered average tax rates for those above the 80th percentile by another 1 to 2.4 percentage points. Jared Bernstein, Vox, "We can’t fund the progressive agenda by taxing the 1% alone," 2 Aug. 2019 His composite score graded amongst an elite percentile in Sacramento’s extensive database littered with the results of students from Yale and Harvard. Jake Fischer, SI.com, "Michael Porter Jr. Wants to Be the NBA's Next Big Gap-Year Success," 13 July 2019 And my plan would be to, first of all, make community college free and make sure that everyone else besides that top percentile gets help with their education. Time Staff, Time, "Here's Everything the Candidates Said at Wednesday's 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate," 11 May 2019 Rodríguez’s strikeout rate has dropped from 18.3 percent last year to 14.5 percent this year, which ranks in the bottom five percentile of the league. Kerry Crowley, The Mercury News, "What’s led to Dereck Rodríguez’s sudden decline and what Giants believe will fix it," 1 July 2019 His little red dot was still below the lowest, fifth-percentile curve. Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, "The Unimaginable Reality of American Concentration Camps," 21 June 2019 The 6-foot-10, 253-pound center scored 1.4 points per possession around the basket in 2018-19, placing him in the 96th percentile of NBA players — defenders will no longer be able to key on James knowing Davis is lurking near the paint. Neil Greenberg, The Denver Post, "After adding Anthony Davis, the Lakers are NBA title favorites. They shouldn’t be.," 17 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'percentile.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of percentile

1885, in the meaning defined above

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More Definitions for percentile

percentile

noun

English Language Learners Definition of percentile

: one of 100 equal parts that a group of people can be divided into in order to rank them

percentile

noun
per·​cen·​tile | \ pər-ˈsen-ˌtīl How to pronounce percentile (audio) \

Medical Definition of percentile

: a value on a scale of one hundred that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it a percentile score of 95 is a score equal to or better than 95 percent of the scores

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