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View synonyms for

sample

[ sam-puhl, sahm- ]

noun

  1. a small part of anything or one of a number, intended to show the quality, style, or nature of the whole; specimen.
  2. Statistics. a subset of a population:

    to study a sample of the total population.

  3. a sound of short duration, as a musical tone or a drumbeat, digitally stored in a synthesizer for playback.


adjective

  1. serving as a specimen:

    a sample piece of cloth.

verb (used with object)

sampled, sampling.
  1. to take a sample or samples of; test or judge by a sample.

sample

/ ˈɑːə /

noun

    1. a small part of anything, intended as representative of the whole; specimen
    2. ( as modifier )

      a sample bottle

  1. Also calledsampling statistics
    1. a set of individuals or items selected from a population for analysis to yield estimates of, or to test hypotheses about, parameters of the whole population. A biased sample is one in which the items selected share some property which influences their distribution, while a random sample is devised to avoid any such interference so that its distribution is affected only by, and so can be held to represent, that of the whole population See also matched sample
    2. ( as modifier )

      sample distribution

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. tr to take a sample or samples of
  2. music
    1. to take a short extract from (one record) and mix it into a different backing track
    2. to record (a sound) and feed it into a computerized synthesizer so that it can be reproduced at any pitch
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

sample

  1. In statistics , a group drawn from a larger population and used to estimate the characteristics of the whole population.
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Notes

Opinion polls use small groups of people, often selected at random, as a sample of the opinions of the general public.
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Other Word Forms

  • t·p noun adjective verb (used with object) intersampled intersampling
  • ·p verb missampled missampling
  • ·p verb (used with object) resampled resampling
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Word History and Origins

Origin of sample1

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English word from Old French word essample. See example
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Word History and Origins

Origin of sample1

C13: from Old French essample, from Latin exemplum example
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Synonym Study

See example.
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Currently, water companies are responsible for sampling water quality themselves to identify pollution.

From

Chinese researchers have not been able to access Nasa's Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers on the space agency's collaboration with China.

From

The zoo has analyzed DNA samples taken from nearly 200 iguanas on 30 islands as part of its effort to learn how to best conserve the species.

From

This is in line with what a property owner may do to collect their own samples.

From

He told me the trend was that people were sampling their favorite songs and writing a new song around it.

From

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samphiresample point