Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of a set of points on a scale arrived at by dividing a group into parts in order of magnitude. For example, a score equal to or greater than 97 percent of those attained on an examination is said to be in the 97th percentile.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In percentage: as, percentile measurement.
  • noun See the first quotation.
  • noun In mathematics, a point upon a curve of errors which corresponds to a certain percentage of the total number of observations under discussion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun statistics Any of the ninety-nine points that divide an ordered distribution into one hundred parts, each containing one per cent of the population.
  • noun statistics Any one of the hundred groups so divided.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (statistics) any of the 99 numbered points that divide an ordered set of scores into 100 parts each of which contains one-hundredth of the total

Etymologies

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Examples

  • America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to ongoing persecution of hippies, radicals, and non-whites under prosecution of the war on drugs.

    Harry Anslinger: The Original Drug Warrior | Heretical Ideas Magazine 2009

  • ` ` Mid-70 percentile is not going to be good enough.

    USATODAY.com - Hockey - Carolina vs. Washington 2006

  • Apparently he defines good teachers as those whose students improved the most in percentile rank over the school year and bad teachers as those whose students dropped the most in percentile rank over the school year, which seems like it would grossly exaggerate the performance difference between good and bad teachers, because the teacher is just one tiny variable in a system with a lot of noise — and because percentile scores aren’t z-scores.

    The Mismatch Problem « Isegoria 2008

  • Feb. 6, 2009: At a checkup with a new pediatrician, Amy Seery, Ayub's body mass index indicates he is above the 95th percentile, which is defined as obese.

    Out Front in the Fight on Fat Betsy McKay 2011

  • In their paper they define a family as “low income†if its income is below the 30th percentile, which is around $28,000.

    Elections - fresh news by plazoo.com 2009

  • In their paper they define a family as “low income†if its income is below the 30th percentile, which is around $28,000.

    Elections - fresh news by plazoo.com 2009

  • Twenty-seven percent are above 95th percentile, which is considered obese, and 6 percent are morbidly obese, Neal said.

    unknown title 2009

  • In their paper they define a family as “low income†if its income is below the 30th percentile, which is around $28,000.

    Elections - fresh news by plazoo.com 2009

  • In their paper they define a family as “low income†if its income is below the 30th percentile, which is around $28,000.

    Elections - fresh news by plazoo.com 2009

  • In their paper they define a family as “low income†if its income is below the 30th percentile, which is around $28,000.

    Elections - fresh news by plazoo.com 2009

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