noun
sample
SAHM-puhl
noun
1
A small portion of something given or shown to represent the whole.
"The tailor cut a sample of fabric so she could match the colour."
"We handed out free samples of the new cereal at the supermarket."
2
A subset of a population studied in order to draw conclusions about the whole group.
"The survey was based on a sample of two thousand voters."
3
A short clip of one recording reused inside another piece of music.
"The producer built the whole beat around a sample from an old soul record."
verb
1
To try or test a small amount of something.
"We sampled every cheese on the counter before deciding."
2
To take a short recording from an existing piece of music and reuse it in a new one.
"The rapper sampled a 1970s funk track for the chorus."
How to Use Sample
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA small piece or amount of something used to represent, test, or judge the whole — or, in music, a reused snippet of another recording.
Easily confused with
Common pairings
free sample
random sample
sample size
sample a beat
Word Forms
sampled past tense, samples plural, Samples plural, samples singular
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The tailor cut a _____ of fabric so she could match the colour.
Etymology
From Old French essample ("example"), from Latin exemplum — sample and example are doublets, two words descended from the very same Latin source.