per
1 Americanpreposition
-
for each; for every.
Membership costs ten dollars per year. This cloth is two dollars per yard.
-
by means of; by; through.
I am sending the recipe per messenger.
-
Also according to; in accordance with.
I delivered the box per your instructions.
He managed to monopolize the meeting, per usual.
adverb
-
a prefix meaning “through,” “thoroughly,” “utterly,” “very”: pervert; pervade; perfect.
-
Chemistry. a prefix used in the names of inorganic acids and their salts that possess the maximum amount of the element specified in the base word: percarbonic (H 2 C 2 O5 ), permanganic (HMnO4 ), persulfuric (H 2 S 2 O8 ), acids; potassium permanganate (KMnO4 ); potassium persulfate (K 2 S 2 O8 ).
abbreviation
-
percentile.
-
period.
-
person.
abbreviation
-
Persia.
-
Persian.
prefix
-
through
pervade
-
throughout
perennial
-
away, beyond
perfidy
-
completely, throughly
perplex
-
(intensifier)
perfervid
-
indicating that a chemical compound contains a high proportion of a specified element
peroxide
perchloride
-
indicating that a chemical element is in a higher than usual state of oxidation
permanganate
perchlorate
-
(not in technical usage) a variant of peroxy-
persulphuric acid
determiner
preposition
-
(esp in some Latin phrases) by; through
-
according to
as per specifications
-
informal as usual
abbreviation
Usage
Per meaning a or an or for each occurs chiefly in technical or statistical contexts: miles per gallon; work-hours per week; feet per second; gallons of beer per person per year. It is also common in sports commentary: He averaged 16 points per quarter. Per is sometimes criticized in business writing in the sense “according to” and is rare in literary writing.
Etymology
Origin of per1
First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin: “through, by, for, for each”; for
Origin of per-2
From Latin, combining form of per, and used as an intensive; per
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A surprising statistic, though, shows that since the start of the 2022-23 season City have won 14 of their 18 league games without Haaland, averaging 2.4 points per game in his absence compared to 2.1 when he features.
From BBC
“A limited set of strikes could plausibly send oil toward $80 per barrel, while a longer conflict that causes disruptions to supply could send prices much higher—with a material effect on global inflation,” analysts at Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the national average gasoline price, currently around $3 per gallon, is likely to rise to roughly $3.10 to $3.15 per gallon over the next couple of weeks if crude prices remain elevated.
From Barron's
The national average gasoline price, currently about $3 per gallon, will likely rise to about $3.10-$3.15 per gallon in coming weeks, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said.
From Barron's
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the national average gasoline price, currently around $3 per gallon, is likely to rise to roughly $3.10 to $3.15 per gallon over the next couple of weeks if crude prices remain elevated.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
