percentile

per·cen·tile | \ pər-ˈsen-ˌtī(-ə)l

How to pronounce percentile (audio)

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Definition of percentile

: a value on a scale of 100 that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it a score in the 95th percentile

Examples of percentile in a Sentence

His height and weight are in the 80th percentile for boys his age.

Recent Examples on the Web Biddle rated in the 95th percentile in fastball spin rate, according to Statcast, in 2018 and '19. — Bobby Nightengale, Cincinnati.com, "Cincinnati Reds sign left-hander Jesse Biddle to minor league contract with invite to camp," 18 Jan. 2020 Other takeaways from the report: - Costs are estimated to be at a 70th percentile, meaning planners believe there is a 70% likelihood the final costs will either be within or less than the estimated range. — oregonlive, "Rose Quarter project would likely exceed $1 billion if freeway caps are expanded, reinforced," 15 Jan. 2020 That cost has been officially designated as FAIR Health’s 80th percentile benchmark of charges — the nondiscounted fees that providers bill for an out-of-network service. — Robin Gelburd, STAT, "Using states as living laboratories to solve surprise medical billing," 15 Jan. 2020 The tax rate for households in the 96th to 99th percentiles is expected to fall by 2 percentage points. — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, "Two years after Trump tax cuts, middle-class Americans are falling behind," 31 Dec. 2019 Instead, schools get a star and a percentile rating. — Liz Bowie, baltimoresun.com, "What you need to know about Maryland’s school star rating system for 2019, which comes out Tuesday," 2 Dec. 2019 Digging a little deeper, AL.com looked at the scores of Alabama’s highest performers, the 90th percentile, by race and poverty level, and again, across the board, Alabama’s students were at or near the bottom of the list. — al, "Alabama schools struggle compared to southeast states, test shows," 7 Nov. 2019 The most elite schools actually do have the most accomplished students: The top five law schools, for example, enroll roughly two-thirds of all applicants with LSAT scores in the 99th percentile. — Daniel Markovits, Time, "American Universities Must Choose: Do they Want to be Equal or Elite?," 12 Sep. 2019 Believers in this approach may have some market math on their side: The valuation of the average stock in the S&P 500 is now in the 97th percentile of historical levels, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which analyzed 40 years of data. — Michael Wursthorn, WSJ, "Fears About Tech-Stock Multiples Don’t Add Up, Bulls Say," 19 Aug. 2018

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

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Dictionary Entries near percentile

percentage shop

percentage tare

Statistics for percentile

Last Updated

13 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Percentile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/percentile. Accessed 20 Feb. 2020.

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More Definitions for percentile

percentile

noun

English Language Learners Definition of percentile

: one of 100 equal parts that a group of people can be divided into in order to rank them

See the full definition for percentile in the English Language Learners Dictionary

percentile

per·cen·tile | \ pər-ˈsen-ˌtīl

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Medical Definition of percentile

: a value on a scale of one hundred that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it a percentile score of 95 is a score equal to or better than 95 percent of the scores

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