zero percent

Meanings

1. 1adjectivebefore a nounfinance

   Charging no interest at all, used for loans or credit offers.

   Grammar: Used before a noun: a zero percent loan.

   Patterns

   • zero percent financing
   • zero percent interest

   The store offers zero percent financing on all sofas.

   She transferred her balance to a zero percent credit card.

   The dealer advertised a zero percent loan for sixty months.

2. 2nounsingularmathematics

   A rate or share of nothing, meaning none of the total.

   Grammar: Singular noun; usually used with a verb in the singular: zero percent is not acceptable.

   Patterns

   • a zero percent chance

   The forecast shows a zero percent chance of rain.

   Zero percent of the sample showed any side effects.

   Growth was exactly zero percent last quarter.

Common combinations

zero percent interest

The card offers zero percent interest for a year.

zero percent financing

Zero percent financing ends this weekend.

zero percent chance

There is a zero percent chance I'll miss the flight.

zero percent growth

The economy posted zero percent growth.

Synonyms and how they differ

interest-free

Interest-free is common in British usage and equals zero percent in meaning for loans.

none

None expresses the quantity directly, while zero percent expresses it as a rate or proportion.

no interest

No interest is looser everyday wording, while zero percent sounds like an official offer.

Opposites

Word family

percent noun

parts in every hundred

percentage noun

an amount expressed as a share of one hundred

zero number

the number 0

Commonly confused: zero percent or percentage?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “zero percent”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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