Definition of "sample" in English

noun

1. A part or snippet of something taken or presented for inspection, or shown as evidence of the quality of the whole; a specimen.

   • a blood sample

2. (statistics) A subset or portion of a population that is systematically selected for measurement, observation, or questioning, with the objective of generating statistical information that accurately reflects the characteristics of the entire population.

   • Large samples are generally more reliable than small samples due to having less variability.

3. (cooking) A small quantity of food for tasting, typically given away for free.

4. (business) A small piece of some goods, for determining quality, colour, etc., typically given away for free.

5. (music) A borrowing of easily recognised phases (or moments) from other music (or movies) in a recording.

6. (obsolete) Example; pattern.

verb

1. (transitive) To take or to test a sample or samples of.

2. (transitive, signal processing) To reduce a continuous signal (such as a sound wave) to a discrete signal.

3. (music, transitive) To reuse a portion of (an existing sound recording) in a new piece of music.

4. (transitive, computer graphics) To make or show something similar to a sample.