Meaning & use

percentage

noun·Academic

A rate, number, or amount expressed as a fraction of one hundred.

See it in a sentence

A small percentage of the population volunteers regularly at the local shelter.

The teacher calculated the percentage of students who passed the final exam.

A note on using this word

Use percentage when discussing a general share informally, and percent when attached to a specific number, as in 40 percent.

Words with a similar meaning

proportionrate

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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