n.
Pronunciation: ' sam-p ə l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French sample, essample, from Latin exemplum ― more at EXAMPLE
Date: 15th century
1 : a representative part or a single item from a larger whole or group especially when presented for inspection or shown as evidence of quality : SPECIMEN
2 : a finite part of a statistical population whose properties are studied to gain information about the whole
3 : an excerpt from a musical recording that is used in another artist's recording
synonyms see INSTANCE