PERCENTILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does percentile mean? 

• PERCENTILE (noun)
  The noun PERCENTILE has 1 sense:

1. (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

  Familiarity information: PERCENTILE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERCENTILE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

centile; percentile

Hypernyms ("percentile" is a kind of...):

grade; mark; score (a number or letter indicating quality (especially of a student's performance))

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

 Context examples 

Percentiles indicate a rank of what percent of the reference population the individual would equal or exceed.

(Growth Chart Percentile, NCI Thesaurus)

Children who were overweight but not obese (BMI in the 85-94th percentile) also had a 17-percent increased asthma risk compared to healthy-weight peers.

(Obesity May Be to Blame for Quarter of Asthma Cases in Children, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The researchers also classified the children into percentiles based on their total daily screen time.

(High amounts of screen time begin as early as infancy, National Institutes of Health)

The POP levels in each woman’s blood were listed as percentiles, with the highest levels set at 100 and the lowest at 1.

(Persistent organic pollutants in maternal blood linked to smaller fetal size, National Institutes of Health)

A fetus or infant who is larger than expected for the age or gender, or who has a birth weight greater than the 90th percentile.

(Large for Gestational Age, NCI Thesaurus)

Paradoxically, using conventional BMI percentiles, children who took part in sport every day appeared more likely to be overweight or obese than those who engaged in sport less than once a week.

(Children who walk to school less likely to be overweight or obese, study suggests, University of Cambridge)

A fetus that does not grow beyond the 10th percentile of conventionally accepted weight for gestational age.

(Fetal Growth Retardation, NCI Thesaurus)

A fetus whose estimated weight is below the 10th percentile for its gestational age; however, many fetuses who meet this definition are simply small-for-gestational-age and are constitutionally small.

(Intrauterine Growth Restriction, NCI Thesaurus)

The researchers then compared growth measurements of head circumference, abdominal circumference, and femur (thigh bone) length of the fetuses of women in the 75th percentile to those of women in the 25th percentile.

(Persistent organic pollutants in maternal blood linked to smaller fetal size, National Institutes of Health)

Children classified as obese—those with a body-mass index (BMI) in the 95th percentile or above for their age and sex—had a 30-percent increased risk of developing asthma than peers of a healthy weight.

(Obesity May Be to Blame for Quarter of Asthma Cases in Children, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)