- a variation of percent.
per cent
Britishadverb
noun
-
a percentage or proportion
-
(often plural) securities yielding a rate of interest as specified
he bought three percents
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.
That represents a 28 per cent improvement compared with earlier studies.
From Science Daily • Jun. 22, 2026
According to a 2024 profile of him, Su “spent almost 100 per cent of his time in China over the last 20 years.”
From Salon • Jun. 19, 2026
Thunderstorms had been predicted for Friday evening along with rain in 60 per cent of the region.
From BBC • May 29, 2026
Sixty per cent of the cases this year are in the Northern Territory, followed by Western Australia with about 36%, with a few cases in South Australia and even fewer in Queensland.
From BBC • May 26, 2026
One pond that had been treated with DDT to remove unwanted shiners remained so poisonous through repeated drainings and flushings that it killed 94 per cent of the sunfish with which it was later stocked.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
