ENGLISH
REFERENCE

percentage

n. countable
B1 Intermediate Oxford US //pɝˈsɛnədʒ// UK //pəsˈɛntɪdʒ// per·cent·age General-service Informal

n. a part of a whole that is shown as a number out of 100. You use it to compare amounts or to show how much something has changed.

n. a rate, number, or amount in each hundred. Often used to express proportions or statistical changes in a standardised format.


SIMPLE

A high percentage of students passed the final exam.

CONTEXTUAL

The bank increased the interest rate by a small percentage to match the new national policy.

COMPLEX

While the raw numbers suggest a decline in sales, the percentage of returning customers has actually remained stable over the last fiscal quarter.

Synonyms
Origin

From percent, from Latin per centum (“for every hundred”), + -age (suffix indicating a rate).

Usage

Often followed by the preposition 'of' when referring to a specific group or total.

Pitfall

The percentage of people are increasingThe percentage of people is increasingWhen 'percentage' is the subject of a sentence, the verb should be singular, even if the noun following 'of' is plural.

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