sample

[sam-puhl, sahm-]

noun

1. a small part of anything or one of a number, intended to show the quality, style, or nature of the whole; specimen.

2. Statistics.,  a subset of a population.

   to study a sample of the total population.

3. a sound of short duration, as a musical tone or a drumbeat, digitally stored in a synthesizer for playback.

adjective

1. serving as a specimen.

   a sample piece of cloth.

verb (used with object)

sampled, sampling 

1. to take a sample or samples of; test or judge by a sample.

sample

/ ˈsɑːmpəl /

noun

1. 1. a small part of anything, intended as representative of the whole; specimen

   2. ( as modifier )

      a sample bottle

2. Also called: sampling. statistics

   1. a set of individuals or items selected from a population for analysis to yield estimates of, or to test hypotheses about, parameters of the whole population. A biased sample is one in which the items selected share some property which influences their distribution, while a random sample is devised to avoid any such interference so that its distribution is affected only by, and so can be held to represent, that of the whole population See also matched sample

   2. ( as modifier )

      sample distribution

verb

1. (tr) to take a sample or samples of

2. music

   1. to take a short extract from (one record) and mix it into a different backing track

   2. to record (a sound) and feed it into a computerized synthesizer so that it can be reproduced at any pitch

sample

1. In statistics, a group drawn from a larger population and used to estimate the characteristics of the whole population.

Opinion polls use small groups of people, often selected at random, as a sample of the opinions of the general public.

Other Word Forms

• intersample noun
• missample verb
• resample verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of sample¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English word from Old French word essample. See example

Word History and Origins

Origin of sample¹

C13: from Old French essample, from Latin exemplum _example

Synonym Study

See example.

Example Sentences

To investigate, Xavier Delclòs and his research team examined amber and surrounding rock samples collected from the Genoveva quarry in Ecuador.

Read more on Science Daily

Hundreds of people stood in the heat of an unseasonably warm October weekend — not for a sample sale or celebrity sighting, but a pop-up hosted by the artificial-intelligence company Anthropic.

Read more on MarketWatch

To produce CAR-NK cells for treatment, doctors typically collect a blood sample from the patient.

Read more on Science Daily

Her approach consists of combining aerosol and seawater samples with sediment records, satellite data and lab microcosms to pin down cause and effect.

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He outlines a sample day: an hour of practice, an eight-hour stretch of school from 9:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., followed by a three-hour evening practice.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• case 
• fragment 
• pattern 
• piece 
• sampling 
• specimen