statistic
Americannoun
-
statistics
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of statistic
First recorded in 1815–20; back formation from statistics
Explanation
A statistic is a numerical piece of information. If you are trying to prove a point, and you want your argument to have a sense of authority, you might want to use a statistic to back up your claim. A statistic is a single piece of information represented by a number. “Water makes up 70% of the Earth’s surface,” for instance, is a statistic. A statistic is like a fact that is reached through a mathematical process. A population figure is the most common statistic you will encounter. When made plural, statistics means either a collection of statistics or the science of creating and interpreting statistics, as in “His favorite course in college was Statistics.”
Vocabulary lists containing statistic
Argumentative Writing
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Argumentative Writing, List 1
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Tears of a Tiger
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Perhaps the most sobering statistic in this documentary is that there are eight million adults in the UK who struggle with even basic levels of literacy.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
“The most important statistic, the one that I am most proud of, is zero,” Keeler said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
That’s the highest number since FactSet first started tracking the statistic some 20 years ago, the report said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 4, 2026
There is a better, broader statistic that tells what’s really going on in the economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
There’s no reliable statistic documenting how many people embraced the game as a result of the publicity surrounding the Fischer–Spassky match, but some estimates put the number in the millions.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Those words have particular resonance now because, compared with those exceptional statistics, there are some far less impressive ones this season.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Rutgers University statistics professor Harry Crane said around 20% to 40% of the money bet on offshore Polymarket markets comes from inside the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
Williams plans to continue using Hubble over the next several years to investigate these questions and gather enough observations to begin building meaningful statistics about this unusual class of celestial objects.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026
A recent HRC study on the queer wage gap found that trans women earn only 60 cents for every dollar a “typical worker” makes, according to the Bureau of Labor’s statistics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Benjamin Rush attacked the mild methods used by Jean Devèze and others, even though he had no real statistics to back his claims.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
