percent

adverb

per·cent | \ pər-ˈsent

Definition of percent

(Entry 1 of 3)

: in the hundred : of each hundred

percent

noun

plural percent or percents

Definition of percent (Entry 2 of 3)

1 plural percent

a : one part in a hundred

b : percentage a large percent of their income

2 percents plural, British : securities bearing a specified rate of interest

percent

adjective

Definition of percent (Entry 3 of 3)

1 : reckoned on the basis of a whole divided into 100 parts

2 : paying interest at a specified percent

Examples of percent in a Sentence

Noun

The value has increased half a percent.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

About 98 percent of the population never has to think about building permits. — Brett Martin, House Beautiful, "A Newbie’s Guide To The Permits Needed For Remodeling," 26 Dec. 2018 With some additional refinements, a simple two-layer neural network like this is able to recognize more than 98 percent of digits. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "How computers got shockingly good at recognizing images," 18 Dec. 2018 Dogs named after royals increased 11 percent in 2018, with the names Harry and Meghan jumping more than 129 percent in popularity year over year, according to data from Rover.com. — Michaela Bechler, Vogue, "How the Royal Family Influenced the Most Popular Dog Names of 2018," 17 Dec. 2018 If taken before 10 weeks, mifepristone and misoprostol are between 92 to 98 percent effective. — Julia Belluz, Vox, "Abortions by mail are available now in the US. Here’s what you need to know.," 20 Oct. 2018 According to Gartner L2 data, 31 percent of the U.S. population lives within 20 miles of an Amazon warehouse (compare that to Walmart, which boasts a store within 20 miles of 98 percent of Americans). — Patrick Sisson, Curbed, "Amazon is coming for the small corner store," 2 Oct. 2018 The researchers found that more than 98 percent of the meteorite consists of kamacite, an alloy of iron and 5 to 10 percent nickel, that's formed in space and is found only in meteorites, which are rocks that fall from space to Earth's surface. — Kimberly Hickok, Fox News, "Mineral never seen on Earth found inside Russian meteorite," 2 Oct. 2018 Buildings produce about 40 percent of annual US carbon emissions. — David Roberts, Vox, "The Green New Deal, explained," 21 Dec. 2018 There’s a shortage of seven million affordable housing units and nearly half of renters pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing. — Diana Budds, Curbed, "Elizabeth Warren doubles down on affordable housing legislation," 11 Dec. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

There is a 20 or so percent chance of isolated showers but nothing that will be a washout. — Doug Phillips, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Summer already? Feels like it," 27 Apr. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'percent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.