Meaning & use
top decile
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Meanings
nouncountable
The group made up of the highest ten percent of people or things in a set, when the set is ranked from lowest to highest.
Grammar: Usually used with "the": the top decile. Follow it with "of" plus the group being measured.
Patterns
- the top decile of something
- be in the top decile
- the top decile by something
Students in the top decile of their class often receive scholarship offers.
Only the top decile of earners pays this higher rate of tax.
The country sits in the top decile for life expectancy among developed nations.
nouncountabletechnical
The boundary score that separates the highest ten percent of a ranked set from the rest.
Grammar: Often follows "above" or "below" when talking about cut-off points rather than groups of people.
Patterns
- above the top decile
- below the top decile
Any score above the top decile is reported only as ">90th percentile".
Her income falls just below the top decile for the region.
Word forms
| plural | top deciles |
|---|
Common combinations
- in the top decile
- Their school is in the top decile for reading scores.
- the top decile of earners
- The top decile of earners saw their share of income rise.
- the top decile of students
- The top decile of students was invited to the honors program.
- rank in the top decile
- The hospital ranks in the top decile for patient safety.
- the top decile by income
- Households in the top decile by income spend less on rent as a share of earnings.
Synonyms and how they differ
- top tenth
- A plain-English way to say the same thing; it sounds less technical and is easier in everyday speech.
- highest percentile group
- Broader and vaguer; it can mean any high band, not specifically the top ten percent.
Opposites
Word family
- decile noun
- Any one of the ten equal groups a ranked set is divided into.
- decile rank noun
- The position of a value within the ten groups.
- percentile noun
- One of a hundred equal groups; a finer division than a decile.
Commonly confused: top decile or percentile? top decile or quartile?
top decile vs percentile
A percentile splits a set into a hundred parts, so the top percentile is the highest one percent, a much smaller group than the top decile.
top decile vs quartile
A quartile splits a set into four parts, so the top quartile is the highest twenty-five percent, a larger group than the top decile.
Practice
Which sentence uses "top decile" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"In the top decile of" is the standard pattern: in + the + top decile + of + group. Option 2 adds "among of", which cannot follow each other; option 3 uses "on", which does not fit this ranking phrase; option 4 drops "the", which is needed before "top decile".
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “top decile”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.