different between yardstick vs sample

English

Etymology

yard +? stick

Noun

yardstick (plural yardsticks)

1. A measuring rod thirty-six inches (one yard) long.
2. (figuratively) A standard to which other measurements or comparisons are judged.

   Synonyms: norm, point of reference, benchmark, ideal

   • 2008 April 8, Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt, “Attacks in Baghdad spiked in March, U.S. data show”, in International Herald Tribune, 2008 April 8 edition, “Africa & Middle East” section,

     Attacks against civilians in the capital remained relatively unchanged: 69 in March from 62 in February. ¶ However, another yardstick, the number of civilian deaths tracked by the Iraqi government, shot up last month after several months of decline.

Derived terms

• Portsmouth yardstick

Translations

Further reading

• yardstick on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Middle English saumple, sample, from Old French essample (“example”), from Latin exemplum. Doublet of example and exemplum.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??m.p?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sæm.p?l/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /sæ?m.p?l/, /s??m.p?l/
• Rhymes: -??mp?l
• Rhymes: -æmp?l

Noun

sample (plural samples)

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 of a population selected for measurement, observation or questioning, to provide statistical information about the 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) Gratuitous borrowing of easily recognised phases (or moments) from other music (or movies) in a recording.
6. (obsolete) Example; pattern.

Synonyms

• specimen
• example

Hyponyms

• product sample

Translations

Verb

sample (third-person singular simple present samples, present participle sampling, simple past and past participle sampled)

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.

Translations

Anagrams

• maples, psalme

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??pl/

Noun

sample m (plural samples)

1. (Louisiana, Cajun French) a sample

Spanish

Noun

sample m (plural samples)

1. (music) sample