noun · formal
percentage
UK/pəˈsen.tɪdʒ/US/pərˈsen.tɪdʒ/per·CENT·age
a number or rate expressed as a fraction of 100
Examples
“The percentage of graduates employed within six months increased to 78%.”
“A high percentage of respondents were satisfied with the service.”
“The percentage fell slightly compared with last year.”
Band 8 sentence
“The percentage of urban residents who cycle to work decreased by 6 percentage points over the decade.”
Collocations
- percentage of
- increase/decrease by X percentage points
- a high/low percentage
Word family
Common mistakes
a 30% percentage→30% or a percentage of 30%
It increased by 5 percents→It increased by 5 percent
The percentage points rose to 5→The percentage rose by 5 percentage points
Say it for a higher band
5part→6rate→7+percentage
Synonyms
proportion
rate
Easily confused
proportion
“A large proportion of the population uses public transport.”
percentage points
“The unemployment rate rose from 5% to 8%, an increase of 3 percentage points.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Comparing proportions
Learn it with its set