Average meaning

What does “average” mean? Definitions, examples, synonyms and opposites.

“average” is a noun, verb and adjective with 12 meanings. Its most common meaning is: a statistic describing the location of a distribution.

average

noun

  1. a statistic describing the location of a distribution

    “it set the norm for American homes”

    Synonymsnorm
  2. (sports) the ratio of successful performances to opportunities

  3. an intermediate scale value regarded as normal or usual

    “he is about average in height”

    “the snowfall this month is below average”

verb

  1. amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain

    “The number of hours I work per work averages out to 40”

    Synonymsaverage out
  2. achieve or reach on average

    “He averaged a C”

  3. compute the average of

    Synonymsaverage out

adjective

  1. approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value

    “the average income in New England is below that of the nation”

    “of average height for his age”

    Synonymsmean
  2. lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered

    “average people”

    “the ordinary (or common) man in the street”

    Synonymsordinary
  3. lacking exceptional quality or ability

    “a novel of average merit”

    “only a fair performance of the sonata”

  4. around the middle of a scale of evaluation

    “an orange of average size”

    “intermediate capacity”

  5. relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution

    “the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30”

    Synonymsmodal
  6. relating to or constituting the middle value of an ordered set of values (or the average of the middle two in a set with an even number of values)

    “the median value of 17, 20, and 36 is 20”

    “the median income for the year was $15,000”

    Synonymsmedian

Source: WordNet 3.1, Princeton University