average
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: ăvʹ(ə)rĭj
ipa: /ˈæv(ə)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
Forms: form: more average
form: most average
Etymology: From Middle French avarie, from Old French avarie, from Old Italian avaria (which is possibly from Arabic عَوَارِيَّة (ʕawāriyya, “damaged goods”), from عَوَار (ʕawār, “fault, blemish, defect, flaw”), from عَوِرَ (ʕawira, “to lose an eye”)) + English suffix -age.
Senses: examples: text: The average age of the participants was 18.5.
glosses: Constituting or relating to the average.
examples: text: I soon found I was only an average chess player.
glosses: Neither very good nor very bad; rated somewhere in the middle of all others in the same category.
examples: text: The average family will not need the more expensive features of this product.
text: We tend to think that exceptionally attractive men and women are outstanding but the fact is that they are more average than most.
ref: 2002, Andy Turnbull, The Synthetic Beast: When Corporations Come to Life, page 12:
text: Things that never would occur to more average children, with and without AD/HD, will give these children nightmares.
ref: 2004, Deirdre V. Lovecky, Different Minds: Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Deficits, page 75:
text: In other words, highly attractive people like highly attractive communicators and more average people like more average communicators.
ref: 2009, Susan T. Fiske, Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology, page 73:
glosses: Typical.
examples: text: The graphics, sound, and most everything else are all very average. However, the main thing that brings this game down are the controls - they feel very clumsy and awkward at times.
ref: 2002, Andy Slaven, Video Game Bible, 1985-2002, page 228:
text: But what the vast majority of the populace doesn′t realise is the fact that he′s only on TV because he became famous from one case, Winona Ryder's, which, by the way, he lost because he′s only a very average attorney.
ref: 2005, Brad Knight, Laci Peterson: The Whole Story: Laci, Scott, and Amber's Deadly Love Triangle, page 308:
text: In the piano stool there was a stack of music, mostly sentimental ballads intended to be sung by people with very average voices accompanied by not very competent pianists.
ref: 2009, Carn Tiernan, On the Back of the Other Side, page 62:
glosses: Not outstanding, not good, banal; bad or poor.
Synonyms: sense: constituting or relating to the average
word: av.
sense: constituting or relating to the average
word: ave.
sense: constituting or relating to the average
word: avg.
sense: constituting or relating to the average
word: expectation
sense: constituting or relating to the average
word: mean
sense: neither very good nor very bad
word: mediocre
sense: neither very good nor very bad
word: medium
sense: neither very good nor very bad
word: middle-rank
sense: neither very good nor very bad
word: middling
sense: neither very good nor very bad
word: unremarkable
sense: neither very good nor very bad
word: so-so
sense: neither very good nor very bad
word: comme ci comme ça
sense: typical
word: conventional
sense: typical
word: normal
sense: typical
word: regular
sense: typical
word: standard
sense: typical
word: typical
sense: typical
word: usual
sense: typical
word: bog-standard
sense: not outstanding, not good, bad or poor
word: ordinary
sense: not outstanding, not good, bad or poor
word: uninspiring
Derived terms: average access time
average bear
average frustrated chump
average handle time
average Joe
averagely
averageness
average seek time
daily average revenue trades
ensemble average
unaverage
underaverage