sample

American  

[sam-puhl, sahm-] / ˈsæm pəl, ˈsɑm- /

noun

• samples
  plural

1. a small part of anything or one of a number, intended to show the quality, style, or nature of the whole; specimen.

2. Statistics. a subset of a population.

   to study a sample of the total population.

3. a sound of short duration, as a musical tone or a drumbeat, digitally stored in a synthesizer for playback.

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adjective

1. serving as a specimen.

   a sample piece of cloth.

verb (used with object)

• samples,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sampled,
  past participle,  past
• sampling
  present participle

1. to take a sample or samples of; test or judge by a sample.

sample British  

/ ˈsɑːmpəl /

noun

1. 1. a small part of anything, intended as representative of the whole; specimen

   2. ( as modifier )

      a sample bottle

2. Also called: sampling. statistics

   1. a set of individuals or items selected from a population for analysis to yield estimates of, or to test hypotheses about, parameters of the whole population. A biased sample is one in which the items selected share some property which influences their distribution, while a random sample is devised to avoid any such interference so that its distribution is affected only by, and so can be held to represent, that of the whole population See also matched sample

   2. ( as modifier )

      sample distribution

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verb

1. (tr) to take a sample or samples of

2. music

   1. to take a short extract from (one record) and mix it into a different backing track

   2. to record (a sound) and feed it into a computerized synthesizer so that it can be reproduced at any pitch

sample Cultural  

1. In statistics, a group drawn from a larger population and used to estimate the characteristics of the whole population.

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Synonym Usage

See example.

Discover More

Opinion polls use small groups of people, often selected at random, as a sample of the opinions of the general public.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intersample
  noun
• missample
  verb
• resample
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• samples
  plural

Participles

• sampling
  present
• sampled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sample
  simple
• samples
  simple
• have sampled
  perfect
• has sampled
  perfect
• am sampling
  progressive
• are sampling
  progressive
• is sampling
  progressive
• have been sampling
  perfect progressive
• has been sampling
  perfect progressive

Past

• sampled
  simple
• had sampled
  perfect
• was sampling
  progressive
• were sampling
  progressive
• had been sampling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sample
  simple
• will have sampled
  perfect
• will be sampling
  progressive
• will have been sampling
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of sample

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English word from Old French word essample. See example

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Explanation

A sample is a small part of something that either represents a bigger whole or is designed to let you try something out. You might ask to try a sample of an exotic ice cream flavor before committing to buying a whole cone. Sample comes from the Old French essample, meaning "example." In social science experiments, researchers try to find a sample of people to study that is representative of the intended population as a whole. At the grocery store, you might be given a sample of peanut butter on a little cracker to entice you to buy it. In that case, you are given the chance to sample, or taste, the product.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sample samples sampled sampling

Anthony Cheetham and Ram Seshadri went through a random sample of the supposed new crystals.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

One issue during testing was that 17% of people who were initially screened had to be excluded because Moderna didn’t get enough of a tumor sample to customize its shot.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

The survey released Wednesday was conducted online in English and Spanish with a sample of 2,197 likely city voters between Oct.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

That’s crucial, since it means that the ratio has worked out of sample — a statistical gold standard.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026

From here, I see we’ve barely explored the habitable zone during our sample collection missions.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

While house was music was based on samples, designed to call a dance floor together, techno was meant to be challenging, alien and fundamentally new.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

The jungle music they had a hand in creating is still to this day characterised by its speed, syncopated rhythms, breakbeats and ragga, funk and reggae samples.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Afterward, the scientists examined the tested samples using powerful electron microscopes.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

No longer just events where designers use trunks full of samples to sell preorders, many combine the instant gratification of off-the-rack shopping with exclusive locations—private homes, hotels, yachts—and free perks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

“Plus, we’re going to have to get inside the lab where Coal’s samples are. That’s gotta be locked up.”

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

They scored a major underground hit with “Clear,” famously sampled by Missy Elliott and others.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

The breakthrough comes from rethinking how points are sampled within the network.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

The sampled points might be located too far from the most direct connection, forcing the algorithm to estimate a much longer route.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

All the caviar we sampled looked pristine, but some roe tasted like a big ol’ gulp of the ocean, including two varieties from Imperia, a limited edition Petrusco offering, and Roe House’s Hackleback.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

After about ten tables I'm stuffed, and we’ve only sampled a small number of the dishes available.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

The dredge that caught it was sampling for small shelled animals known as brachiopods during a natural history expedition.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

Rather than attending the Goodwood Revival festival this year, he was sampling cheeses and whiskies at the Abergavenny Food Festival.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

Bancel said that rate was high, but he expects sampling tumors to improve.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

But he surely understood that this was an incautiously brief period of measurement, for the river’s annual flow was wildly variable, ranging from about 9.1 million to 25 million acre-feet during the 20-year sampling.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Meanwhile, the twins were in the candy aisle sampling their favorites.

From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina

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Related Words

• case
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• piece
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