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.

Albania recorded a "massive reduction" in "near-natural river sections", falling from 68 per cent in 2012 to just 40 per cent in 2025, the report said.

From Barron's

In 2012, these largely unaltered rivers accounted for 30 per cent of the region's waterways.

From Barron's

For Bosnia, the proportion of intact rivers decreased by 23 per cent between 2012 and 2025.

From Barron's

Cheating cases during practical and theory driving tests rose by nearly 50 per cent last year in England, Scotland and Wales, new figures show.

From BBC

One notable finding was that about 8 per cent of the E. coli strains were classified as multidrug-resistant or extensively drug-resistant.

From Science Daily

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