Definition of "average" []

• Mathematics A number that typifies a set of numbers of which it is a function. (noun)
• Mathematics See arithmetic mean. (noun)
• An intermediate level or degree: near the average in size. (noun)
• The usual or ordinary kind or quality: Although the wines vary, the average is quite good. (noun)
• Sports The ratio of a team's or player's successful performances such as wins, hits, or goals, divided by total opportunities for successful performance, such as games, times at bat, or shots: finished the season with a .500 average; a batting average of .274. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At Tavoy, on the Tenasserim coast, the maximum rate of productiveness of the rice land was, in 1825, and is still believed to be, nearly the same as the average of Siam; while their _average_ was only twenty-fold."
• "The average weight of brain, in 278 Europeans, was 49.50 oz., in 24 White American soldiers, 52.06 oz., indicating a greater _average_ for the American brain."
• "_average_ novel of the third quarter of the century -- in a more than average but not of an extraordinary, transcendental, or quintessential condition -- Anthony Trollope is about as good a representative as can be found."