What does average mean?

Definitions for average
ˈæv ər ɪdʒ, ˈæv rɪdʒav·er·age

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word average.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. average, normnoun

    a statistic describing the location of a distribution

    "it set the norm for American homes"

  2. averagenoun

    (sports) the ratio of successful performances to opportunities

  3. averageadjective

    an intermediate scale value regarded as normal or usual

    "he is about average in height"; "the snowfall this month is below average"

  4. average, mean(a)adjective

    approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value

    "the average income in New England is below that of the nation"; "of average height for his age"; "the mean annual rainfall"

  5. average, ordinaryadjective

    lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered

    "average people"; "the ordinary (or common) man in the street"

  6. average, fair, mediocre, middlingadjective

    lacking exceptional quality or ability

    "a novel of average merit"; "only a fair performance of the sonata"; "in fair health"; "the caliber of the students has gone from mediocre to above average"; "the performance was middling at best"

  7. average, intermediate, mediumadjective

    around the middle of a scale of evaluation

    "an orange of average size"; "intermediate capacity"; "medium bombers"

  8. modal(a), averageadjective

    relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution

    "the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30"

  9. median(a), averageverb

    relating to or constituting the middle value of an ordered set of values (or the average of the middle two in a set with an even number of values)

    "the median value of 17, 20, and 36 is 20"; "the median income for the year was $15,000"

  10. average, average outverb

    amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain

    "The number of hours I work per work averages out to 40"

  11. averageverb

    achieve or reach on average

    "He averaged a C"

  12. average, average outverb

    compute the average of

Wiktionary

  1. averagenoun

    The arithmetic mean.

    The average of 10, 20 and 24 is (10 + 20 + 24)/3 = 18.

  2. averagenoun

    Any measure of central tendency, especially any mean, the median, or the mode (see Usage notes below).

  3. averagenoun

    An indication of a player's ability calculated from his scoring record, etc.

    batting average

  4. averageverb

    To compute the arithmetic mean of.

    If you average 10, 20 and 24, you get 18.

  5. averageverb

    Over a period of time or across members of a population, to have or generate a mean value of.

    The daily high temperature last month averaged 15C.

  6. averageadjective

    Constituting or relating to the average.

    The average age of the participants was 18.5.

  7. averageadjective

    Neither very good nor very bad; rated somewhere in the middle of all others in the same category.

    I soon found I was only an average chess player.

  8. averageadjective

    Typical.

  9. averageadjective

    Not outstanding, not good, banal; bad or poor.

  10. Etymology: From avarie, from avaria, from عوارية, from عوار, from عور.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Averagenoun

    1.In law, that duty or service which the tenant is to pay to the king, or other lord, by his beasts and carriages, Ephraim Chambers

    Etymology: averagium, Lat.

Wikipedia

  1. Average

    In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9 (summing to 25) is 5. Depending on the context, an average might be another statistic such as the median, or mode. For example, the average personal income is often given as the median—the number below which are 50% of personal incomes and above which are 50% of personal incomes—because the mean would be higher by including personal incomes from a few billionaires. For this reason, it is recommended to avoid using the word "average" when discussing measures of central tendency.

ChatGPT

  1. average

    The term "average" in mathematics refers to a measure of central tendency that represents the typical or middle value in a set of data. It is usually calculated by adding together all values in a data set and then dividing by the total number of values. It can also refer to the mean, median, or mode in statistics, which are all different types of averages.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Averagenoun

    that service which a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the work beasts of the tenant, as the carriage of wheat, turf, etc

  2. Averagenoun

    a tariff or duty on goods, etc

  3. Averagenoun

    any charge in addition to the regular charge for freight of goods shipped

  4. Averagenoun

    a contribution to a loss or charge which has been imposed upon one of several for the general benefit; damage done by sea perils

  5. Averagenoun

    the equitable and proportionate distribution of loss or expense among all interested

  6. Averagenoun

    a mean proportion, medial sum or quantity, made out of unequal sums or quantities; an arithmetical mean. Thus, if A loses 5 dollars, B 9, and C 16, the sum is 30, and the average 10

  7. Averagenoun

    any medial estimate or general statement derived from a comparison of diverse specific cases; a medium or usual size, quantity, quality, rate, etc

  8. Averagenoun

    in the English corn trade, the medial price of the several kinds of grain in the principal corn markets

  9. Averageadjective

    pertaining to an average or mean; medial; containing a mean proportion; of a mean size, quality, ability, etc.; ordinary; usual; as, an average rate of profit; an average amount of rain; the average Englishman; beings of the average stamp

  10. Averageadjective

    according to the laws of averages; as, the loss must be made good by average contribution

  11. Averageverb

    to find the mean of, when sums or quantities are unequal; to reduce to a mean

  12. Averageverb

    to divide among a number, according to a given proportion; as, to average a loss

  13. Averageverb

    to do, accomplish, get, etc., on an average

  14. Averageverb

    to form, or exist in, a mean or medial sum or quantity; to amount to, or to be, on an average; as, the losses of the owners will average twenty five dollars each; these spars average ten feet in length

  15. Etymology: [OF. average, LL. averagium, prob. fr. OF. aver, F. avoir, property, horses, cattle, etc.; prop. infin., to have, from L. habere to have. Cf. F. avrage small cattle, and avarie (perh. of different origin) damage to ship or cargo, port dues. The first meaning was perhaps the service of carting a feudal lord's wheat, then charge for carriage, the contribution towards loss of things carried, in proportion to the amount of each person's property. Cf. Aver, n., Avercorn, Averpenny.]

Wikidata

  1. Average

    In colloquial language average usually means the sum of a list of numbers divided by the size of the list, in other words the arithmetic mean. However it can alternatively mean the median, the mode, or some other central or typical value. In statistics, these are all known as measures of central tendency. The concept of an average can be extended in various ways in mathematics, but in those contexts it is usually referred to as a mean

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Average

    av′ėr-āj, n. the mean value or quantity of a number of values or quantities: any expense incurred beyond the freight, payable by the owner of the goods shipped, as in the phrase Petty average: any loss or damage to ship or cargo from unavoidable accidental causes—Particular average. Again, General average is the apportionment of loss caused by measures taken for the ship's safety, as cutting away the masts, throwing overboard cargo, accepting towage, or the like.—adj. containing a mean value: ordinary.—v.t. to fix an average.—v.i. to exist in, or form, a mean quantity. [Dr Murray says the word first appears about 1500 in connection with the maritime trade of the Mediterranean (Fr. avarie, Sp. averia, It. avaria); probably averia is a derivative of It. avere (O. Fr. aveir), goods, the original sense being a 'charge on property or goods.' The It. avere and O. Fr. aveir meant goods, substance, cattle—L. habēre, to have. The Old Eng. aver in the same sense is obsolete, but in Scotland aver still means an old horse.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. average

    Whether general or particular, is a term of ambiguous construction, meaning the damage incurred for the safety of the ship and cargo; the contribution made by the owners in general, apportioned to their respective investments, to repair any particular loss or expense sustained; and a small duty paid to the master for his care of the whole. Goods thrown overboard for the purpose of lightening the ship, are so thrown for the good of all, and the loss thus sustained must be made up by a general average or contribution from all the parties interested. (See GENERAL AVERAGE.)

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'average' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1694

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'average' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1999

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'average' in Nouns Frequency: #1146

  4. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'average' in Adjectives Frequency: #211

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of average in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of average in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of average in a Sentence

  1. Bill Russo:

    They managed to stop the bleeding and increase average selling price, good sign, but they need to do more to localize their business model to address the growth in non-hardware related mobility and digital services if they are to recapture growth.

  2. Dan Sullivan:

    I think the average American, whether you’re Republican or Democrat is tired of this, the number of Biden nominees who come out here and have tweeted about Republicans being white supremacists and racists, it seems like that’s how you get nominated in this administration. People are just tired of it.

  3. Al Baker:

    By the way, the average age of my cabin crew is only 26 years. So there is no need for you to travel on these crap American carriers, you know you’re always being served by grandmothers on American airlines.

  4. Fred Royal:

    His remarks have racist overtones to them. He's in total denial of the condition the average citizen in this community is being subjected to.

  5. Frank Gehrke:

    California winters are very changeable. You can go like we (had) two years ago, driest on record, to this year flirting for a while with maximum on record, right now, we are looking at probably around 160% of average for this time of the year.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for average

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"average." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/average>.

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