the average person

Meanings

1. 1nounsingular

   A typical, ordinary individual, used to talk about what most people in a society are like, do or can afford.

   Grammar: Singular with a singular verb: the average person spends hours online.

   Patterns

   • the average person can/does something

   The average person checks their phone dozens of times a day.

   Rent takes up a large share of what the average person earns.

   These medical terms mean little to the average person.

2. 2nounsingulartechnical

   In statistics or surveys, a hypothetical individual whose characteristics equal the mean of a group.

   Grammar: Used in data discussions; often shown with numbers.

   Patterns

   • the average person in a group

   The average person in the study slept seven hours.

   The report describes the average person living in the city.

   No real individual matches the average person in the data.

Common combinations

appeal to the average person

The advert tries to appeal to the average person.

beyond the average person

The cost is beyond the average person.

the average person on the street

Ask the average person on the street.

affordable for the average person

Houses are barely affordable for the average person.

Synonyms and how they differ

the man in the street

This is an older, gendered idiom for ordinary people, while the average person is neutral.

ordinary people

Ordinary people is plural and warmer; the average person is more statistical.

the typical person

Typical suggests the most common kind, while average hints at a mathematical midpoint.

the layperson

Layperson means someone without expert knowledge, not just ordinary.

Opposites

Word family

average adjective

typical or ordinary

average noun

a typical amount or the mean

averagely adverb

in an ordinary way

Commonly confused: the average person or median?

Practice

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