average

American  

[av-er-ij, av-rij] / ˈæv ər ɪdʒ, ˈæv rɪdʒ /

noun

averages plural

1. a quantity, rating, or the like that represents or approximates an arithmetic mean.

   Her golf average is in the 90s. My average in science has gone from B to C this semester.

2. a typical amount, rate, degree, etc.; norm.

3. Statistics. arithmetic mean.

4. Mathematics. a quantity intermediate to a set of quantities.

5. Commerce.

   1. a charge paid by the master of a ship for such services as pilotage or towage.

   2. an expense, partial loss, or damage to a ship or cargo.

   3. the incidence of such an expense or loss to the owners or their insurers.

   4. an equitable apportionment among all the interested parties of such an expense or loss.

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adjective

1. of or relating to an average; estimated by average; forming an average.

   The average rainfall there is 180 inches.

2. typical; common; ordinary.

   The average secretary couldn't handle such a workload. His grades were nothing special, only average.

verb (used with object)

averages, present (3rd person singular) averaged, past participle, past averaging present participle

1. to find an average value for (a variable quantity); reduce to a mean.

   We averaged the price of milk in five neighborhood stores.

2. (of a variable quantity) to have as its arithmetic mean.

   Wheat averages 56 pounds to a bushel.

3. to do or have on the average.

   He averages seven hours of sleep a night.

verb (used without object)

averages, present (3rd person singular) averaged, past participle, past averaging present participle

1. to have or show an average.

   to average as expected.

verb phrase

1. average up to purchase more of a security or commodity at a higher price to take advantage of a contemplated further rise in prices.

2. average out

   1. to come out of a security or commodity transaction with a profit or without a loss.

   2. to reach an average or other figure.

      His taxes should average out to about a fifth of his income.

3. average down to purchase more of a security or commodity at a lower price to reduce the average cost of one's holdings.

idioms

1. on the / an average, usually; typically.

   She can read 50 pages an hour, on the average.

average British  

/ ˈævrɪdʒ, ˈævərɪdʒ /

noun

1. the typical or normal amount, quality, degree, etc

   above average in intelligence

2. Also called: arithmetic mean.  the result obtained by adding the numbers or quantities in a set and dividing the total by the number of members in the set

   the average of 3, 4, and 8 is 5

3. (of a continuously variable ratio, such as speed) the quotient of the differences between the initial and final values of the two quantities that make up the ratio

   his average over the journey was 30 miles per hour

4. maritime law

   1. a loss incurred or damage suffered by a ship or its cargo at sea

   2. the equitable apportionment of such loss among the interested parties

5. (often plural) stock exchange a simple or weighted average of the prices of a selected group of securities computed in order to facilitate market comparisons

6. usually; typically

   on average, he goes twice a week

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adjective

1. usual or typical

2. mediocre or inferior

   his performance was only average

3. constituting a numerical average

   the average age

   an average speed

4. approximately typical of a range of values

   the average contents of a matchbox

verb

1. (tr) to obtain or estimate a numerical average of

2. (tr) to assess the general quality of

3. (tr) to perform or receive a typical number of

   to average eight hours' work a day

4. (tr) to divide up proportionately

   they averaged the profits among the staff

5. (tr) to amount to or be on average

   the children averaged 15 years of age

6. (intr) stock exchange to purchase additional securities in a holding whose price has fallen ( average down ) or risen ( average up ) in anticipation of a speculative profit after further increases in price

average Scientific  

/ ăv′ər-ĭj /

1. A number, especially the arithmetic mean, that is derived from and considered typical or representative of a set of numbers.

2. Compare arithmetic mean median mode

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average Cultural  

1. A single number that represents a set of numbers. Means, medians, and modes are kinds of averages; usually, however, the term average refers to a mean.

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Usage

What’s the difference between average, mean, median, and mode? In the context of mathematics and statistics, the word average refers to what’s more formally called the mean, which is the sum of a set of values divided by the number of values. In contrast, the median is the middle number in a set of values when those values are arranged from smallest to largest, while the mode of a set of values is the most frequently repeated value in the set. The word average is of course also very commonly used in more general ways. In math, though, it’s helpful to use more specific terms when determining the most representative or common value in a set of numbers. To illustrate the difference, let’s look at an example set of seven values: 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9. To get the mean of this set, you’d add up all the values (2+3+3+4+6+8+9=35) and then divide that total by the number of values (7), resulting in a mean of 5. This is what most people are referring to when they refer to the average of some set of numbers. To find the median, you have to find the one that’s sequentially in the middle. In a set of seven numbers arranged in increasing value, the median is the fourth number (since there are three before and three after). In this set (2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9), the median is 4. When a set has an even number of values, the median is the mean of the two middle values. The mode is simply the value that shows up the most. In the example set, the mode is 3, since it occurs twice and all the other values occur only once. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between average, mean, median, and mode.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• averageness
  noun
• superaverageness
  noun
• averageable
  adjective
• subaverage
  adjective
• superaverage
  adjective
• unaveraged
  adjective
• underaverage
  adjective
• well-averaged
  adjective
• averagely
  adverb
• subaveragely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• averages
  plural

Participles

• averaging
  present
• averaged
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• average
  simple
• averages
  simple
• have averaged
  perfect
• has averaged
  perfect
• am averaging
  progressive
• are averaging
  progressive
• is averaging
  progressive
• have been averaging
  perfect progressive
• has been averaging
  perfect progressive

Past

• averaged
  simple
• had averaged
  perfect
• was averaging
  progressive
• were averaging
  progressive
• had been averaging
  perfect progressive

Future

• will average
  simple
• will have averaged
  perfect
• will be averaging
  progressive
• will have been averaging
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of average

First recorded in 1485–95; earlier averay “charge on goods shipped,” originally, “duty” (with -age replacing -ay ), from Middle French avarie, from Old Italian avaria, of disputed origin; perhaps from Arabic ʿawārīyah “damaged merchandise” (from ʿawār “blemish, fault, flaw”) or akin to Old French aveir, avoir “goods, property” ( see avoirdupois ( def. ))

Explanation

If something is average, it's ordinary and not very special. You might say a movie was average if you thought it was just okay. Average can describe what's true most of the time, as in, “The average rainfall in Seattle is fifty-two inches.” It can also be used in a mathematical and more precise way. On his English tests, Dylan received grades of 92%, 85% and 94%. His average grade was 90%, or the sum of the test scores divided by the number of tests taken.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

average averages averaged averaging

The adjusted loss per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, narrowed to 76 cents from $1.24, but that was much wider than the average per-share loss estimate, 17 cents, compiled by FactSet.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

JetBlue said the average price of fuel last quarter was $4.23 a share, a 76% jump from the same quarter in 2025.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

More than 1.2 million of the average 1.9 million journeys on a typical autumn day were in London.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Researchers from the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne found that exercise leads to small average improvements in pain and physical function among people with hip osteoarthritis.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026

“The average batter takes two minutes. There are usually five batters on each side for every inning. I would say there should be two innings left!”

From "The Missing Mitt (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #2)" by Franklin W. Dixon

Long Beach has a total of 22 ship terminals and officials estimate that the electricity bill for each terminal averages $420,000 a month.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

When people write me with questions and don’t include any net-worth information, I assume the national averages for income and retirement savings.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

And, he adds, averages can hide what matters most to people living through the changes.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

Hamby averages 3.2 fouls per game and has expressed frustration about the new officiating norms this season, but has avoided true foul trouble.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

Would the law of averages catch up to him?

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

The study found employers' confidence levels in their own "neurodivergent readiness" averaged between 70-75%.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Only four players in the entire NBA averaged 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists last season—and James was one of them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The 104 matches averaged a record high 7.7 million viewers, a 116% increase over the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

Meta added that the evidence showed the plaintiff averaged just minutes a day on Facebook and Instagram and he created most accounts only after hiring a lawyer to bring this lawsuit.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

He averaged 38.3 miles a day, with ten or eleven hours of running.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

That form continued as he led 8-2 and was averaging 114.74, with Taylor's record of 114.99 in any Matchplay game in sight.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

His velocity steadily dropped, with his fastball averaging 94.7 mph in the first inning and 92.7 in the fifth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Goldman’s base case is Brent averaging $80 in the last quarter of this year and $75 in 2027 – assuming de-escalation before the end of the year.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

However since his recall, Root has enjoyed a remarkable uptick in form, averaging 81.5 from 21 innings with four centuries.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

With no tent, and often navigating with nothing better than road maps, he walked for 123 days, from April to August, averaging seventeen miles a day.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• mediocre
• moderate
• ordinary
• regular