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Synonyms

percentage

American  
[per-sen-tij] / pərˈsɛn tɪdʒ /

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 British  
/ 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

"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

Usage

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.

Commonly Confused

See percent.

Other Word Forms

  • percentaged adjective

Etymology

Origin of percentage

First recorded in 1780–90; percent + -age

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.

The most active gold futures lost nearly 11% in March, marking their worst monthly percentage loss since the month ending June 2013, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026

Economists at Citi have marked down the eurozone’s growth this year by 0.4 percentage point, the United States’ by just 0.1 point.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

Depending on the nature of the project and the contract, a bond might cost a factory three-quarters of a percentage point to 3% of a contract’s entire cost, he said.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

The international benchmark also had its largest one-quarter percentage gain of 71% since 1990, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

“What percentage chance do you think you have?” she asks.

From "Landscape with Invisible Hand" by M.T. Anderson

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.