percent

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   For every hundred (used with preceding numeral to form a noun phrase expressing a proportion).

   Diane Watson has had a distinguished career in education and politics, and last year was elected to the House of Representatives, winning 75 percent of the vote in her Congressional district.

2. 2
   noun

   A percentage, a proportion (especially per hundred).

   only a small percent attain the top ranks

3. 3
   noun

   One part per hundred; one percent, hundredth.

   And from 1966, under Regulation Q, there was a ceiling of 5.5 per cent on their deposit rates, a quarter of a per cent more than banks were allowed to pay.

4. 4
   noun

   An annuity or security with a certain fixed and guaranteed annual percentage rate of return or percentage dividend.

   […]Several stocks in the Three Per Cents and Three Per Cents Reduced to be transferred into the name and to the credit of the prosecutor, without any authority to him (the traverser) to sell, negotiate, transfer or pledge the said 9000l. Three-and-a-Quarter per Cent. Annuities.

5. 5
   prep_phrase

   Per hundred.

   By how many percent did the cancer survival rate for breast cancer increase by 2008?

6. 6
   noun

   a proportion in relation to a whole (which is usually the amount per hundred)

7. 7
   noun

   The percent sign, %.

Etymology

From New Latin per centum (“by the hundred”).