Meaning of sample In English

• 0 a small amount of something that shows you what the rest is or should be like:

  • a free sample of shampoo

  • samples of carpet/curtain material

  • Please bring some samples of your work to the interview.

  • a blood/urine sample

  • a random sample of voters

  • a nationally representative sample of 200 schools

• 1 a small part of a song that has been recorded and used to make a new piece of music

• 2 to taste a small amount of food or drink to decide if you like it:

  • As the food looked so good, he decided to sample a little from each dish.

  • So you're going to sample the delights/pleasures of the new restaurant?

• 3 to record part of a song and use the recording to make a new piece of music:

  • This song has been heavily sampled.

• 4 a small amount of something which shows what the rest is or should be like:

  • a free sample

  • a blood/tissue sample

  • The booklet contains sample questions and answers.

  • The poll is based on a random sample of Montgomery voters.

• 5 to take or try a small amount of something:

  • He sampled a little of each dish.

  • Buma sampled opinions from people in both countries.

• 6 a small amount of a substance, product, etc. that shows someone thinking of buying it what it is like:

  • a carpet/fabric/product sample

  • Write to us and we will send you a free sample.

• 7 a group of people chosen from a larger group, who give their opinions, answer questions, etc. in order to provide information about the whole group:

  • a sample of sth A sample of three HR Managers and 30 employees was selected and interviewed.

  • The marketing poll was conducted by telephone among a representative sample of 1,136 adults.

  • a large/small sample

• 8 a small amount of a substance or product that is tested to find out whether it is good, whether it contains a particular substance, etc.:

  • The investigation into tainted pet food has grown to include tests of 700 samples.

  • The next step will be to build a few dozen samples of each device and send them out for testing in both urban and rural settings.

• 9 to try a small amount of a product, or try a service for a short time, in order to see whether you want to buy it:

  • On a typical overseas tour, a buyer could sample 120 wines in a day.

  • They are recruiting 2,500 telephone customers to sample the service for 12 months.

• 10 to ask for the opinions of a number of people chosen from a group, in order to get information about the whole group:

  • The survey sampled 150 chief executives from both large and small companies.

• 11 to test a small amount of a substance or product to find out whether it is good, whether it contains a particular substance, etc.:

  • sample sth for sth Before the food can be sold to markets and stores, the FDA samples goods for defects.