US /ˈsam.pəl/ UK /ˈsɑːm.pəl/
noun verb Freq #3368

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A small part of something used to show what the whole is like.

    The nurse took a sample of my blood for testing.

  2. 2
    noun

    A small group chosen from a larger one to be studied or measured.

    They surveyed a sample of a thousand voters.

  3. 3
    verb

    To try a small amount of something to see what it is like.

    Visitors could sample the cheeses before buying.

  4. 4
    verb

    To reuse a part of an existing recording in a new piece of music.

    The producer sampled an old jazz track for the chorus.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
2 noun · a small group chosen from a... sampling
Word family
Forms sampledsamplessampling
Derived forms autosamplebiosampledownsampleeigensampleintersampleintrasamplekilosamplemacrosamplemegasamplemetasamplemicrosamplemultisample

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English saumple, sample, from Old French essample (“example”), from Latin exemplum. Doublet of example and exemplum.

View etymology graph ->

Topics

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