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per

[pur; unstressed per]

Example Sentences Origin

preposition

for each; for every: Membership costs ten dollars per year. This cloth is two dollars per yard.

by means of; by; through: I am sending the recipe per messenger.

according to; in accordance with: I delivered the box per your instructions.

adverb

Informal. each; for each one: The charge for window-washing was five dollars per.

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Per is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Origin:
1580–90; < Latin: through, by, for, for each. See for

Can be confused: per, purr (see usage note at the current entry).

Usage note
Per for a or an or for each occurs chiefly in technical or statistical contexts: miles per gallon; work-hours per week; feet per second; gallons of beer per person per year. It is also common in sports commentary: He averaged 16 points per quarter. Per is sometimes criticized in business writing in the sense “according to” and is rare in literary writing.

Example Sentences

As gas prices rose earlier this year, consumers started paying a lot more attention to their cars' miles per gallon.

Selling past copies of examination papers-a few cents per student per exam.

American output per person nearly doubled over that time.

EXPAND

As gas prices rose earlier this year, consumers started paying a lot more attention to their cars' miles per gallon.

Selling past copies of examination papers-a few cents per student per exam.

American output per person nearly doubled over that time.

Oxygen costs and requirements vary per climb and per climber.

Newly described dinosaur had only one finger per stubby forelimb.

Water levels are falling at an average rate of three feet per year.

From that plot, it seems that price per piece is fairly consistent.

Gambling per se isn't really a stupidity tax, but state lotteries.

In many of these cases, individual beaches may be losing only a few inches per year, but in some cases the problem is much worse.

Density--the number of knots per inch--is less important to the quality of a wool-on-wool carpet.

And the number of posts per day fluctuates, but doesn't seem to have been rising on average over the last couple of weeks.

It has the potential to produce far more fuel per acre than any other source.

Borneo's forest has more tree species per hectare than anywhere else.

The bottom of the sea is cold, dark and under pressures of tons per square inch.

We do not accept more than one contestant per e-mail address.

Intel's cofounder, noted that the number of transistors per chip would double every year.

Limit one entry per envelope and limit one entry per person/per day regardless of method of entry.

Shoulder-to-shoulder planting in double-dug soil delivers more food per square foot than any system we've ever used.

The unit gives a constant read of the amount you are spending per kilowatt-hour, as well as your estimated electric bill.

TT faculty would go from teaching two semesters per year, to three.

Limit one entry per envelope and limit one entry per person/ per day regardless of method of entry.

That's how much you are getting per student this semester.

However, yields per acre remain low by international standards.

So precious was the commodity that a medieval burgher could only afford to consume one teaspoon of the sweet granules per year.

At some universities, endowment per athlete exceeds over-all endowment per student.

The successful candidate will also teach multiple sections of college writing per year.

The machines sometimes clanked and rumbled, belching smoke and cinders as they moved along at two or three miles per hour.

The teaching requirement is two courses per semester.

Much of the country's electricity comes from burning coal, which releases millions of tons per year.

For one thing, many high-school counselors and admissions officers here said they didn't oppose the use of agents per se:.

These intensely colored diamonds may sell for the highest price per carat of any gem material.

But the prototype topped out at three miles per hour, and investors kept their hands in their pockets.

The change doesn't affect the car's performance or how many miles it gets per gallon.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

a prefix meaning “through,” “thoroughly,” “utterly,” “very”: pervert; pervade; perfect.

Chemistry. a prefix used in the names of inorganic acids and their salts that possess the maximum amount of the element specified in the base word: percarbonic (H₂C₂O₅), permanganic (HMnO₄), persulfuric (H₂S₂O₈), acids; potassium permanganate (KMnO₄); potassium persulfate (K₂S₂O₈).

Origin:
< Latin, combining form of per per, and used as an intensive

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To per

Collins

World English Dictionary

per (pɜː, (unstressed) pə)

—*determiner*
1.	for every: three pence per pound

—*prep*
2.	(esp in some Latin phrases) by; through
3.	as per according to: as per specifications
4.	informal as per usual as usual

[C15: from Latin: by, for each]

PER

—*abbreviation for*
	Professional Employment Register

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

per

1588 (earlier in various L. and Fr. phrases), from L. per "through, during, by means of, on account of, as in," from PIE base *per- "through, across, beyond" (cf. Skt. pari "around, about, through," O.Pers. pariy, Gk. peri "around, about, beyond," O.C.S. pre-, Rus. pere- "through," Lith. per "through,"

EXPAND

O.Ir. air- Goth. fair-, Ger. ver- O.E. fer-, intensive prefixes).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

per- pref.

Thoroughly; completely; intensely: perfuse.
Containing an element in its highest oxidation state: perchloric acid.
Containing a large or the largest possible proportion of an element: peroxide.
Containing the peroxy group: peracid.