per cent

British

/ pə ˈsɛnt /

adverb

Also: per centum. %. in or for every hundred

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

a percentage or proportion
(often plural) securities yielding a rate of interest as specified

he bought three percents

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of per cent

C16: from Medieval Latin per centum out of every hundred

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Early analyses suggest that certain viral markers could identify about 40 per cent of cancer cases, while most healthy individuals do not carry them.

From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2026

They say more than 85 per cent of aquatic and marine vegetation, including saltmarsh, seagrass and kelp, has been lost over the past 50 years.

From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026

The most frequent was FBXW7, which was altered in more than 50 per cent of the tumors studied.

From Science Daily • Mar. 18, 2026

And Clarke admits he's shifted slightly in his own mind, having previously said his chances of staying were only 25 per cent.

From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026

Until the late modern era, more than 90 per cent of humans were peasants who rose each morning to till the land by the sweat of their brows.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023