PERCENTAGE


Meaning of PERCENTAGE in English

per ‧ cen ‧ tage W3 AC /pəˈsentɪdʒ $ pər-/ BrE AmE noun

[ Word Family: noun : precent, ↑ percentage ; adverb : ↑ percent ; adjective : ↑ percent ]

1 . [uncountable and countable] an amount expressed as if it is part of a total which is 100

percentage of

The percentage of school leavers that go to university is about five per cent.

Tax is paid as a percentage of total income.

high/low/small percentage

A high percentage of married women have part-time jobs.

Interest rates fell by six percentage points (=6%) .

The numbers are small in percentage terms (=when calculated as a percentage) .

percentage change/increase etc

Crime figures showed significant percentage increases.

GRAMMAR

If the noun that follows a percentage of is plural, use a plural verb after it:

Only a small percentage of people are interested in politics.

2 . [countable usually singular] a share of the profits:

She gets a percentage for every record sold.

3 . there is no percentage in doing something British English informal used to say that doing something is not going to help or be useful:

There’s no percentage in worrying.

• • •

COLLOCATIONS

■ adjectives

▪ high/large

A high percentage of our students pass the exam.

▪ small/low

Only a small percentage of people suffer from the allergy.

▪ significant

We get a significant percentage of our oil from Nigeria and Angola.

■ percentage + NOUN

▪ a percentage point (=one percent)

The party increased its share of the vote by almost 4 percentage points.

▪ a percentage increase/change

Poorer pensioners experienced the greatest percentage increase in their pensions.

■ phrases

▪ in percentage terms

The quantity of carbon dioxide was, in percentage terms, extremely small.

■ verbs

▪ express something as a percentage

The number is expressed as a percentage of the total population of the country.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.