per-

(Latin: through, across, over; beyond, by means of)

perambulate (verb), perambulates; perambulated; perambulating
1. To walk through.
2. To inspect (an area) on foot.
3. To walk around or roaming and strolling.
perambulation (s) (noun), perambulations (pl)
1. A walk around a territory (a parish or manor or forrest etc.) in order to officially assert and record its boundaries.
2. A leisurely walk (usually in some public place).
perambulator (s) (noun), perambulators (pl)
1. A carriage for taking a baby, or a very young child, for a walking-ride out doors by an adult: "In Britain, a baby carriage or buggy is called a 'pram', a short term for perambulator."
2. A small vehicle with four wheels in which a baby or child is pushed.
3. A four-wheeled carriage, often having a hood that folds back and a handle for pushing, used for wheeling an infant about. Also called a baby buggy.
4. An odometer pushed by a person walking.
5. A person who makes a tour or inspection on foot.
perambulatory (adjective), more perambulatory, most perambulatory
A reference to a person who walks around as when strolling or wandering.
perceivable (adjective), more perceivable, most perceivable
1. Capable of being seen or heard: If James stood at the peak of the mountain, the river below would be perceivable.
2. Possible of being understood or grasped: Stress is often considered to be a cause of cancer, so it is perceivable that stress is able to trigger cancer or even other disorders in people.
perceivably (adverb), more perceivably, most perceivably
1. Conveying how something can be recognized or identified, particularly by hearing or by sight: When Mrs. Smart, the teacher, looked at the twins, she noticed that they were perceivably different in some ways.
2. Regarding how something is understood or comprehended: The statements June made about the accident were perceivably true, according to the police.
perceive (verb), perceives; perceived; perceiving
1. To become directly aware of something through any of the senses; especially, sight and hearing: Little children perceive the sounds of words that are continuously spoken by their parents and then they learn to understand and to speak them.
2. To achieve an understanding or to apprehend and to notice something; especially, anything that escapes the notice of others: After the corrected English tests were returned to the students in class, Sam perceived a mistake which his teacher had apparently overlooked!
To recognize or to be aware of something by seeing it, hearing it, touching it, smelling it, etc.
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perceiver (s) (noun), perceivers (pl)
Someone who recognizes, discerns, envisions, or understands what is going on and who can make decisions based on his or her recognitions or thinking about something.
percent, per centum, %
One part in every hundred.

A quantity can be increased by any percentage but should not be decreased by more than 100 percent.

Once sales have been reduced by 100 percent, for example, it ceases to exist. In defiance of this logic, however, advertisers sometimes refer to a 150 percent decrease in new luggage prices or a new medication that increases energy by over 300 percent.

It is assumed that what is implied by the last example is that the new medicine is three times as effective as some other medicine, but such constructions are still considered to be etymologically incorrect because 100 percent is the
total amount of anything.

percentage (s) (noun), percentages (pl)
1. A proportion stated in terms of one-hundredths that is calculated by multiplying a fraction by 100: If all of the apples were picked, if would be 100%, whereas if only half of the amount of apples were picked, it would be 50%, and if none of the apples were picked, 0% of the apples were picked.
2. A proportion or share in relation to a whole; a part: The hecklers constituted only a small percentage of the audience."
3. An amount, such as an allowance, duty, or commission, that varies in proportion to a larger sum, for example, total sales: They are working for a percentage of the gross sales.

When preceded by "the", percentage takes a singular verb:

The percentage of unskilled workers is relatively small.

The percentage of errors in his term paper is excessive.

When preceded by "a", percentage takes either a singular or plural verb, depending on the number of the noun in the prepositional phrase that follows:

A small percentage of the new workers are unskilled.

A large percentage of the crop was lost because of the lack of rain.

A large percentage of the electorate still remains undecided.

percentile
1. In statistics, a value on a scale of one hundred that indicates whether a distribution is above or below it.
2. One of a set of points on a scale arrived at by dividing a group into parts in an order of magnitude.

For example, a score equal to or greater than 97 percent of those attained on an examination is said to be in the 97th percentile.

percept (s) (noun), percepts (pl)
1. A mental impression of or becoming aware of something and it is considered the basic element in the formation of ideas or actions.
2. Etymology: from Latin praeceptum, from the past participle of praecipere, "to advise, to teach, to instruct, to give rules to" from prae-, pre-, "before" + capere, "to take".
perceptible (adjective), more perceptible, most perceptible
Descriptive of noticing or sensing something, even if it is just slightly.
perceptibly (adverb), more perceptibly, most perceptibly
In a recognizable manner.
perception (s) (noun), perceptions (pl)
Taking in through the senses or the mind, awareness, insight, or intuition: The mother's perception of her son's needs was different from those of the father's ideas.
The ability to be aware something by observing and understanding it.
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Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
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