percentile

noun

per·​cen·​tile pər-ˈsen-ˌtī(-ə)l 

: 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

Athletes with sport psychology support perform roughly half a standard deviation better than those without, moving from around the 50th to the 70th percentile. — Bydr. Corrie Block, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026

Giants manager Tony Vitello sent speedy outfielder Jonah Cox to pinch-run for Devers, whose sprint speed ranks in the 22nd percentile of MLB players, according to Statcast. — Sean Campbell, Sacbee.com, 22 June 2026

Devers is in the 22nd percentile in sprint speed, and rookie Jonah Cox is in the 89th percentile. — Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 22 June 2026

Harvard also plans to use an internal percentile ranking for honors and prizes. — Gerald Bradshaw, Chicago Tribune, 8 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for percentile

• campanile
• chamomile
• domicil
• domicile
• mercantile
• neuropil
• peristyle
• reconcile
• thermopile
• aisle
• bile
• chyle

Medical Definition

percentile

noun

per·​cen·​tile pər-ˈsen-ˌtīl 

: 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