per cent
noun/pə ˈsent/
/pər ˈsent/
(especially British English) (North American English usually percent)
(symbol %)
(plural per cent, percent)
Idioms - one part in every hundred
- per cent of something/somebody Poor families spend about 80 to 90 per cent of their income on food.
- It is often stated that we use only 10 per cent of our brain.
- What per cent of the population is/are overweight?
- Sales increased by 5 percent last year.
Grammar Point Expressing percentagesExpressing percentagesTopics Moneya2- Percentages (= numbers of per cent) are written in words as twenty-five per cent and in figures as 25%.
- If a percentage is used with an uncountable or a singular noun, the verb is generally singular:
- 90% of the land is cultivated.
- If the noun is singular but represents a group of people, the verb is singular in North American English but in British English it may be singular or plural:
- Eighty per cent of the work force is/are against the strike.
- If the noun is plural, the verb is plural:
- 65% of children play computer games.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + per cent- account for
- amount to
- be equal to
- …
- about five, ten, etc. per cent
- around five, ten, etc. per cent
- by five, ten, etc. per cent
- …
- a boost of five, ten, etc. per cent
- an improvement of five, ten, etc. per cent
- an increase of five, ten, etc. per cent
- …
Word Originmid 16th cent.: from per + cent, perhaps an abbreviation of pseudo-Latin per centum.Definitions on the go
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Idioms
See per cent in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishgive a hundred (and ten) per cent
- to put as much effort into something as you can; to give even more effort than could be expected
- Every player gave a hundred per cent tonight.
Check pronunciation:
per cent