Skip to content

average

/ˈæv.ɚ.ɪd͡ʒ/noun, verb, adjective3 syllables

Average means: lacking exceptional quality or ability.

Synonyms for average29

noun, as in a statistic describing the location of a distribution

norm

verb, as in amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain

average out

verb, as in compute the average of

average out

adjective, as in lacking exceptional quality or ability

fair, mediocre, middling, ordinary

adjective, as in around the middle of a scale of evaluation

intermediate, medium, moderate

adjective, as in approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value

mean, normal

adjective, as in lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered

ordinary, common

adjective, as in relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution

modal, normal

adjective, as in 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)

median, normal

also used for average

expectation, comme ci comme ça, unremarkable, so-so, crappy, decent, conventional, regular, standard, typical, usual, bog-standard, basic, unexceptional, abysmal

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does average mean?12

adjective

1

lacking exceptional quality or ability“a novel of average merit”

2

around the middle of a scale of evaluation“an orange of average size”

3

approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value“the average income in New England is below that of the nation”

4

lacking special distinction, rank, or status; commonly encountered“average people”

5

relating to or constituting the most frequent value in a distribution“the modal age at which American novelists reach their peak is 30”

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”

noun

1

a statistic describing the location of a distribution“it set the norm for American homes”

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”

verb

1

amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain“The number of hours I work per week averages out to 40”

2

compute the average of

3

achieve or reach on average“He averaged a C”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Average in a sentence

  • The meaning of an average man's life comprises three things: eating, drinking, and fucking.Ooneykcall
  • Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.Hybrid
  • He is average height, is white, has brown hair and brown eyes.gleki
  • Your car's speedometer tells you the car's instantaneous speed, not its average speed.zumley
  • On average, how many times per minute does a person blink?AlanF_US
  • On average, how many cups of coffee do you drink daily?NurseMeeks
  • On average, how many carbonated beverages do you drink daily?NurseMeeks
  • On average, how many cups of coffee do you drink every day?CK

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of average

as a noun

plural
averages

as a verb

past tense
averaged
present participle
averaging
third-person singular
averages
past participle
averaged