sample

American  

[sam-puhl, sahm-] / ˈsæm pəl, ˈsɑm- /

noun

• samples
  plural

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)

• samples,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sampled,
  past participle,  past
• sampling
  present participle

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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Synonym Usage

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• samples
  plural

Participles

• sampling
  present
• sampled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sample
  simple
• samples
  simple
• have sampled
  perfect
• has sampled
  perfect
• am sampling
  progressive
• are sampling
  progressive
• is sampling
  progressive
• have been sampling
  perfect progressive
• has been sampling
  perfect progressive

Past

• sampled
  simple
• had sampled
  perfect
• was sampling
  progressive
• were sampling
  progressive
• had been sampling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sample
  simple
• will have sampled
  perfect
• will be sampling
  progressive
• will have been sampling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sample

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

Explanation

A sample is a small part of something that either represents a bigger whole or is designed to let you try something out. You might ask to try a sample of an exotic ice cream flavor before committing to buying a whole cone. Sample comes from the Old French essample, meaning "example." In social science experiments, researchers try to find a sample of people to study that is representative of the intended population as a whole. At the grocery store, you might be given a sample of peanut butter on a little cracker to entice you to buy it. In that case, you are given the chance to sample, or taste, the product.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sample samples sampled sampling

She had provided a DNA sample in January but was told it had been lost, so her mother's body had been in the mortuary unidentified for several months.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

Determining exactly what Mercury is made of is difficult because scientists have never collected a rock sample from its surface.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026

A sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico did at one point falsely test positive for the cyclosporiasis parasite.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

A head-to-head comparison is unfair due to different flight lengths and a tiny sample so here are my general hot takes:

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

“If only to sample my cook’s fish pepper soup. The chap is from Nembe; he knows what to do with fresh fish.”

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

These "pre-mortem" tissue samples came from consenting patients undergoing heart bypass procedures at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

She said evidence corroborated that the mass did not have the appearance of cancer, and that samples were sent "appropriately" to pathology for testing.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Anthropologists from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo led the research, using DNA recovered from skeletal remains and comparing it with samples provided by living descendants.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

Taylor told the committee they were told that one of the samples was so toxic "if you touch it it would be dangerous for health".

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

The samples were packaged and shipped to a forensics laboratory in Germany for testing; the Icelandic DNA laboratory was ruled out to avoid any possibility of compromise or conflict.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Saint-Maximin also sampled the highs as a resurgent Newcastle qualified for the Champions League in his final campaign on Tyneside in 2023.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Perry and her partner, Canada's former prime minister Justin Trudeau, sampled the delights of Mykonos.

From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026

He also wrote Teddy Pendergrass’ “Love T.K.O.,” which was famously sampled in Ahmed Lewis’ 1994 nostalgic hip-hop single, “Back in the Day,” among others.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

The observations do not prove that aerosols caused the sampled clouds to become stronger.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

Lena sampled the hot chocolate and stirred some more.

From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull

Admittedly, these are anecdotes not data: the Big Wasp Survey – the only national wasp monitoring survey – is yet to start sampling this summer.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

Furniture, vessels, porcelain, silver and a sampling of household goods populate a display that’s nonhierarchical.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

With mortuaries overflowing in Nepal, authorities have begun burying hundreds of unidentified bodies after DNA sampling.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

Burgoine said the Nature Commission and Guernsey Water were conducting environmental DNA sampling in the island's freshwater ponds and streams in a bid to gather more information as to where eels were present.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

A group of tourists with cameras around their necks huddled by the counter, some sampling stuffed clams, others pointing to a large chart illustrating fifty different varieties of North Atlantic fish.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Related Words

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