sample

Syllables: sam·ple/ˈsɑːm.pəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern England/ˈsam.pəl/

sample noun: a part or snippet of something taken or presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen.

Noun (1)

sample (plural samples)

A part or snippet of something taken or presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen.
- a blood sample
- He looked down into Glen Doone first, and sniffed as if he were smelling it, like a sample of goods from a wholesale house; and then he looked at the hills over yonder, and then he stared at me.1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “Quo Warranto?”, in Lorna Doone, page 99
A subset or portion of a population that is systematically selected for measurement, observation, or questioning, with the objective of generating statistical information that accurately reflects the characteristics of the entire population.
- Large samples are generally more reliable than small samples due to having less variability.
- It is interesting to find that, with the exception of a few imperfectly-observed South Sea Islanders, and whose actual numbers, if the measurements are correct, are very few, the English professional classes head the long list [in average height], and that the Anglo-Saxon race takes the chief place...1883, Sir Francis Galton et al., “Final Report of the Anthropometric Committee”, in Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, page 269
A small quantity of food for tasting, typically given away for free.
A small piece of some goods, for determining quality, colour, etc., typically given away for free.
A borrowing of easily recognised phases (or moments) from other music (or movies) in a recording.
(obsolete) Example; pattern.
- Thus he concludes, and euery hardie knight / His ſample follow’d, and his brethren twaine, / The other Princes put on harneſſe light, / As footmen vſe.1600, Torquato Tasso, translated by Edward Fairfax, Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem, London: Ar. Hatfield, translation of La Gerusalemme liberata (in Italian), book XI, page 200
- [The King] Liu’d in Court / (Which rare it is to do) moſt prais’d, moſt lou’d, / A ſample to the yongeſt.1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...

Verb

sample (third-person singular simple present samples, present participle sampling, simple past and past participle sampled)

(transitive) To take or to test a sample or samples of.
- They had just finished their breakfast, and the sight of the remains of it almost overpowered me. I could hardly keep my wits together in the presence of that food, but as I was not asked to sample it, I had to bear my trouble as best I could.1893, Mark Twain, “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note”, in The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other Stories, pages 2–3
- Mok was enjoying himself very much. It was not often that he had such an opportunity to sample the delights of Paris. His young master, Ralph, had given him strict orders never to go out at night, or in his leisure hours, unless accompanied by Cheditafa.1895, Frank Richard Stockton, “Mok as a Vocalist”, in The Adventures of Captain Horn, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1907, page 367
(transitive) To reduce a continuous signal (such as a sound wave) to a discrete signal.
(transitive) To reuse a portion of (an existing sound recording) in a new piece of music.
- To address this novel legal quandary, one legal treatise on copyright has developed the concept of fragmented literal similarity, a method of determining whether a sample-based work is substantially similar to the source it sampled. The name reflects the exactness of the similarity between the...2011, Kembrew McLeod, Peter DiCola, Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling, →ISBN, page 130
(transitive) To make or show something similar to a sample.
- It means that a larger image field can be sampled from a lower resolution copy without much loss in comparative data, only the number of data points to be manipulated.2006, Translation of Digital Process to Architectural Program, →ISBN, page 6

Noun (2) capitalized: SAMPLE

SAMPLE (uncountable)

(abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of signs and symptoms, allergies, medications, past pertinent history, last oral intake, events leading to present illness.

Proper noun capitalized: Sample

Sample (plural Samples)

A surname.

sample meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu

sample in Hindi

part taken for inspection: नमूना namūnā

sample in Marathi

part taken for inspection: नमुना namunā

sample in Bengali

part taken for inspection: নমুনা nomunā
statistics: নমুনা nomunā
business: নমুনা nomunā

sample in Telugu

part taken for inspection: నమూనా namūnā

More languagesFewer languages

sample in Gujarati: નમૂનો namūno
sample in Tagalog: lakda, muwestra, halimbawa, halimbagay
sample in Arabic: عَيِّنَة ʕayyina, عَيِّنَةٌ ʕayyinatun, عَيِّناتٌ ʕayyinātun
sample in Indonesian: sampel
sample in Persian: نمونه nemune, nomune, اشانتیون ešântiyon
sample in Thai: ตัวอย่าง dtuua-yàang, ลอง lɔɔng
sample in Vietnamese: mẫu vật, mẫu

Examples of sample in a sentence

Altogether we spent eight days on the Aparaman Range, exploring and gathering samples of plant and animal life.1989 May, Uwe George, “Venezuela's Islands in Time”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 559:
Then one day in May 2012, he picked up a free sample of a Vietnamese-language magazine based in New Jersey.2014 May 7, Anh Do, “War orphan named 'Precious Pearl' reunites with South Vietnamese soldier who rescued her in '72”, in The Sydney...
It's a pretty grey outlook for England if these are a sample of the mothers of the coming generation.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
The Healing brush is similar to the Clone Stamp in that information is sampled by Alt-clicking and then painted into other parts of the image.2008, Mark Fitzgerald, Photoshop CS3 Restoration and Retouching Bible, →ISBN, page 148:

All 40 example sentences with sample

Synonyms of sample

Forms of sample

Noun
plural	samples
Verb
third-person singular present	samples
present participle	sampling
past participle	sampled
past	sampled
Proper noun
plural	Samples

Past tense of sample: sampled

Plural of sample: samples

Origin of sample

Inherited from Middle English saumple, sample, from Old French essample (“example”), from Latin exemplum. Doublet of example and exemplum.

Phrases with sample

2 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with sample

example

Questions about sample

What does sample mean?: Sample means a part or snippet of something taken or presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen.
What is sample in Hindi?: Sample in Hindi is नमूना (namūnā). See Sample meaning in Hindi.
How do you use sample in a sentence?: Altogether we spent eight days on the Aparaman Range, exploring and gathering samples of plant and animal life.
What part of speech is sample?: Sample can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sample?: Sample is pronounced /ˈsɑːm.pəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of sample?: The plural of sample is samples.

Words near sample in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: sample (page history and authors); SAMPLE (page history and authors); Sample (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sample.wav.

Cite this entry: “sample.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sample. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.