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.

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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

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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

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.4%, notching the largest three-week point and percentage decline since the week ended Nov. 21, 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

From Barron's

Silver Trust’s price on Friday dropped by the largest percentage decline on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

From Barron's

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.4%, notching the largest three-week point and percentage decline since the week ended Nov. 21, 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

From Barron's

Sales were down only 15% year over year, and Tesla’s market share jumped about 59%, up almost 15 percentage points year over year.

From Barron's

In the near term, investors should look for improvements in operating margins, fulfillment costs as a percentage of revenue, and capital-expenditure efficiency rather than headline revenue acceleration.

From Barron's

Related Words

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