average
verb/ˈævərɪdʒ/
/ˈævərɪdʒ/
Verb Forms
Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they average | /ˈævərɪdʒ/ /ˈævərɪdʒ/ |
| he / she / it averages | /ˈævərɪdʒɪz/ /ˈævərɪdʒɪz/ |
| past simple averaged | /ˈævərɪdʒd/ /ˈævərɪdʒd/ |
| past participle averaged | /ˈævərɪdʒd/ /ˈævərɪdʒd/ |
| -ing form averaging | /ˈævərɪdʒɪŋ/ /ˈævərɪdʒɪŋ/ |
- average something [no passive] to be equal to a particular amount as an average
- Economic growth is expected to average 2% next year.
- Drivers in London can expect to average about 12 miles per hour (= to have that as their average speed).
- The women averaged 41 points per game.
- He has averaged 15 goals over the past two seasons.
- Wages here average less than three dollars an hour.
- average something to calculate the average of something
- Earnings are averaged over the whole period.
- The items were summed and averaged by the number of items.
Word Originlate 15th cent.: from French avarie ‘damage to ship or cargo’, earlier ‘customs duty’, from Italian avaria, from Arabic ‘awār ‘damage to goods’; the suffix -age is on the pattern of damage. Originally this referred to a tax on exported goods. The meaning later changed so that it referred to money due from goods that had been lost or damaged at sea. It referred specifically to the way the losses were divided between the owners of the vessel and the owners of the cargo (late 16th cent.). This gave rise to the general sense of calculating the mean (mid 18th cent.).
Check pronunciation:
average