standard error

American  

noun

Statistics.

1. the standard deviation of a distribution of a sample statistic, especially when the mean is used as the statistic.

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standard error British  

noun

1. statistics the estimated standard deviation of a parameter, the value of which is not known exactly

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standard error Scientific  

1. The standard deviations of the sample in a frequency distribution, obtained by dividing the standard deviation by the total number of cases in the frequency distribution.

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Etymology

Origin of standard error

First recorded in 1895–1900

Compare meaning

How does standard-error compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• standard deviation vs. standard error

Example Sentences

So, each IQ test score has a standard error of measurement that accounts for the margin of error above and below the test-taker’s score.

From Slate • Dec. 8, 2025

The standard error is the standard deviation of the sampling distribution.

From Textbooks • Mar. 27, 2020

The margin of error depends on the confidence level or percentage of confidence and the standard error of the mean.

From Textbooks • Mar. 27, 2020

This is sometimes called the standard error of the estimate.

From Textbooks • Nov. 29, 2017

Averages referred to in the text as significantly different differ by as much as, or more than, the sum of two times the standard error of each of the two averages.

From Subspeciation in the Meadow Mouse, Microtus pennsylvanicus, in Wyoming, Colorado, and Adjacent Areas by Anderson, Sydney