statistical significance

Cultural  

1. In statistics, a number that expresses the probability that the result of a given experiment or study could have occurred purely by chance. This number can be a margin of error (“The results of this public opinion poll are accurate to five percent”), or it can indicate a confidence level (“If this experiment were repeated, there is a probability of ninety-five percent that our conclusions would be substantiated”).

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statistical significance

Given the wide variability of individual IPOs’ returns in the first six months, it’s unclear how much statistical significance there is for the difference in the two groups’ average returns.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026

Although a high-dose combination of fianlimab and Libtayo showed improvement over Keytruda, the result didn’t reach statistical significance, Meacham noted.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

Fewer Lyme disease cases occurred among the 9,400 subjects in the study than had been expected, causing it to fall short of one of the study’s key measures of statistical significance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026

"Our data is based on 300 galaxies. The statistical significance is roughly one-in-a-trillion chance of being a fluke. So, I strongly feel that already our research is very, very significant."

From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025

Usually we encounter the opposite situation: the result is of potential practical significance but of almost no statistical significance.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos