sample
pronunciation
How to pronounce sample in British English:
UK [ˈsɑːmpl]
How to pronounce sample in American English:
US [ˈsæmpl]
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- Noun:
- a small part of something intended as representative of the whole
- items selected at random from a population and used to test hypotheses about the population
- all or part of a natural object that is collected and preserved as an example of its class
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- Verb:
- take a sample of
Word Origin
- sample
- sample: see example
- sample (n.)
- c. 1300, "something which confirms a proposition or statement," from Anglo-French saumple, a shortening of Old French essample, from Latin exemplum "a sample" (see example). Meaning "small quantity (of something) from which the general quality (of the whole) may be inferred" (usually in a commercial sense) is recorded from early 15c.; sense of "specimen for scientific sampling" is from 1878. As an adjective from 1820.
- sample (v.)
- "to test by taking a sample," 1767, from sample (n.). Earlier "to be a match for" (1590s). Related: Sampled; sampling.
Synonym
Example
- 1. This screening tests the blood sample for hiv antibodies .
- 2. Such deviation between the products and the sample is normal and permissible .
- 3. Sample sizes for each country ranged from 600 people to 1200 .
- 4. Think of it as voting via statistically valid sample .
- 5. A sample that once encapsulated dreams of the future now struggles to escape its past .