on the average

Idioms  

1. As a rule, usually, as in On the average, about 15 percent of the freshmen class will drop out before graduation. This expression uses average in the sense of “a norm or standard.” [First half of 1700s]

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Example Sentences

In their experiment they used a dummy based on the average MRI data of an adult Japanese man from the university's partners, Tokyo Institute of Science in Japan.

From BBC • Jun. 27, 2026

SpaceX has a similar effect on the average retail investor, she noted.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

But that responsibility of figuring out what’s truly safe and unsafe shouldn’t fall on the average consumer, Benesh emphasizes.

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026

Stripping out one-off items, profit was up 17% on the average of the prior two quarters, helped by what Chief Executive Nuno Matos called a productivity program.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

These differences suggest that Eurasian agriculture as of 1492 may have yielded on the average more calories and protein per person-hour of labor than Native American agriculture did.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond