statistical
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of statistical
First recorded in 1590–1600; statistic(s) + -al 1
Explanation
If you can say it with numbers, then it is probably statistical. Statistical information (or "stats") can tell the chance of rain tomorrow or what percentage or your allowance gets spent on texting. Statistics is the science of gathering numerical information in large amounts and using it to make broad deductions — such as the one that famously declared the average British family in the 1980s had 2.4 children. Of course, that was nonsense, and the statisticians later amended it — to 1.6. Statistical answers, as the previous example shows, often need to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Vocabulary lists containing statistical
Nothing But the Truth
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How It Went Down
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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.
It would be bonkers, the thinking went, to risk untold millions in career earnings by taking dirty dollars to throw games or manipulate statistical outputs.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
In theory GDP and GDI should be the same, though in practice they differ slightly because of statistical imprecision.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
To be sure, that’s not much of a statistical sample.
From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026
"The statistical significance of this is not high enough to claim a detection of dark matter, and further checks should be performed by independent groups," Aurrekoetxea says.
From Science Daily • May 19, 2026
VED: Please provide data to begin statistical and hypothetical analysis.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
