I. per ‧ cent 1 AC BrE AmE ( also per cent British English ) /pəˈsent $ pər-/ adjective , adverb
[ Word Family: noun : precent, ↑ percentage ; adverb : ↑ percent ; adjective : ↑ percent ]
1 . 5 percent (5%)/10 percent (10%) etc equal to five, ten etc parts out of a total of 100 parts:
a 10% increase in house prices
a company with a 40 percent stake in the project
2 . a/one hundred percent completely:
I agree with you a hundred percent.
II. percent 2 S3 W2 AC BrE AmE ( also per cent British English ) noun
5 percent (5%)/10 percent (10%) etc an amount equal to five, ten etc parts out of a total of 100 parts:
The bank charges interest at 14%.
5 percent (5%)/10 percent (10%) etc of
Eighty percent of the population voted.
► Percent is only used after a number. If you are referring more generally to part of an amount, use percentage : A high percentage (NOT percent) of the population was illiterate.