Synonyms

standard deviation

American

noun

Statistics.

a measure of dispersion in a frequency distribution, equal to the square root of the mean of the squares of the deviations from the arithmetic mean of the distribution.

standard deviation British

noun

statistics a measure of dispersion obtained by extracting the square root of the mean of the squared deviations of the observed values from their mean in a frequency distribution

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

standard deviation Scientific

/ stăn′dərd /

A statistic used as a measure of the dispersion or variation in a distribution, equal to the square root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of the deviations from the arithmetic mean.

standard deviation Cultural

In statistics, a measure of how much the data in a certain collection are scattered around the mean. A low standard deviation means that the data are tightly clustered; a high standard deviation means that they are widely scattered.

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About sixty-eight percent of the data are within one standard deviation of the mean.

Etymology

Origin of standard deviation

First recorded in 1920–25

Compare meaning

How does standard-deviation compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

standard deviation vs. standard error

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.

According to Bespoke, a sector index is extremely overbought when it is trading more than two standard deviations above its 50-day moving average, which underscores the speed of this shift.

From MarketWatch

On that day, the S&P 500 was trading in overbought territory, which Bespoke and many others define as one standard deviation above the index’s 50-day moving average.

From MarketWatch

Suddenly they don’t need to know about tricky concepts like standard deviation or Sharpe ratios.

From MarketWatch

Each standard deviation drop in relative amplitude was linked to a 54% increase in dementia risk.

From Science Daily

He calculates that the inflation-adjusted growth stock index is now more than two standard deviations above the long-term trend for the aggregate U.S. market.

From MarketWatch

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023