percentage

[per-sen-tij]

noun

1. a rate or proportion per hundred.

2. an allowance, commission, or rate of interest calculated by percent.

3. a proportion in general.

   Only a small percentage of the class will graduate with honors.

4. gain; benefit; profit; advantage.

percentage

/ pəˈsɛntɪdʒ /

noun

1. proportion or rate per hundred parts

2. commerce the interest, tax, commission, or allowance on a hundred items

3. any proportion in relation to the whole

4. informal,  profit or advantage

Confusables Note

See percent.

Other Word Forms

• percentaged adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of percentage¹

First recorded in 1780–90; percent + -age

Example Sentences

A percentage of babies born every day will manifest queer characteristics, and though countless strongmen have left fields of carnage in attempts to manage so-called bloodlines, nobody can override such DNA destiny.

From Salon

In this case, the vice president’s belabored justification for his lie is that a tiny percentage of the trillion dollars in question — the price tag of GOP health care cuts — is spent on legal immigrants.

From Salon

His slugging percentage jumped nearly 70 points in the second half.

From Los Angeles Times

Under these programs, participants pay a percentage of the rent — generally 30% of their adjusted income — and the government covers the rest.

From Salon

In reality, the limited data on mass shootings and homicide assailants’ gender identities suggests that “trans people make up an insignificant percentage” of perpetrators, Lenning said.

From Salon

Related Words

• bonus 
• chunk 
• fee 
• interest 
• percent 
• proportion 
• rate 
• ratio 
• royalty 

When To Use

What is a percentage?

Percentage is a rate or proportion per hundred, as in This graph shows the percentage of homes that have a microwave.Percentage is also used more generally to mean any proportion, as in Studies have shown that a large percentage of people love cute animals.A percent is one one-hundredth (1/100) of something. Percentage refers to the rate or proportion of that one hundred. Usually, you will see the word percentage used in math equations or statistics or when someone is measuring the increase and decrease in rates.Informally, percentage can mean a gain or advantage, as in There is no percentage to be gained from lying to the sheriff.Generally, percentage and percent can be used interchangeably when referring to vague proportions. However, the word percentage never follows an exact number. In this case, only percent can be used in The number of pet owners increased by 10 percent.A percentile is any of the possible 100 equal parts a range of values can be divided into. A given percentile means that the percentage of all possible outcomes is lower or lesser than the given percentile. For example, if you score in the 92nd percentile of an exam, you scored higher than 92 percent of all other people who took the exam.Example: After careful measuring, the percentage of people who hated pineapple on pizza was found to be significantly higher than first thought.