sample

American  

[sam-puhl, sahm-] / ˈsæm pəl, ˈsɑm- /

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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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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 Cultural  

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

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Related Words

See example.

Discover More

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)

Etymology

Origin of sample

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

Example Sentences

Scientists then collected samples from various parts of each plant.

From Science Daily

A key part of Curiosity's mission involves collecting rock samples with a drill attached to the end of its robotic arm.

From Science Daily

To better understand the microbes responsible for these differences, the team will collect stool samples from Zen Digesters and Hydrogen Hyperproducers for microbiome analysis.

From Science Daily

The survey, which goes to a representative sampling of U.S. households, found the rate of violent victimization hadn’t fallen.

From The Wall Street Journal

This sample is roughly 30 times larger than those used in earlier surveys.

From Science Daily

Related Words

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