Meaning of representative In English

• 0 someone who speaks or does something officially for another person or group of people:

  • The firm has representatives in every major city.

• 1 typical of, or the same as, others in a larger group of people or things:

  • Are your views/opinions representative of all the workers here?

  • a representative sample/cross-section/selection

• 2 A representative system of government is one in which people vote for politicians to represent them.

• 3 a member of the US House of Representatives; a congressman or congresswoman

• 4 a person who represents another person or a group:

  • The company has representatives in most European capitals.

• 5 serving to describe, esp. a larger group of the same type:

  • A good political poll is based on a representative sampling of voters.

• 6 someone whose job is to sell a company's products or services, especially by visiting or phoning customers:

  • We'll increase our team of representatives to help meet sales targets.

  • All shops are visited regularly by one of our sales representatives.

• 7 a person who is chosen to speak or act for other people:

  • Staff have been invited to elect a representative to attend management meetings.

  • A representative of the oil company made a press statement.

• 8 typical of a large group of people or things:

  • How representative are the views of these customers?

  • representative of sth These remarks are not representative of the views of management.

• 9 a small group that contains the same mixture of people or things that is found in a bigger group, so that it is able to provide useful information about the bigger group :

  • The survey was sent to a representative sample of US households.