standard deviation

See synonyms for standard deviation on Thesaurus.com
nounStatistics.
  1. a measure of dispersion in a frequency distribution, equal to the square root of the mean of the squares of the deviations from the arithmetic mean of the distribution.

Origin of standard deviation

1
First recorded in 1920–25

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How to use standard deviation in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for standard deviation

standard deviation

noun
  1. statistics a measure of dispersion obtained by extracting the square root of the mean of the squared deviations of the observed values from their mean in a frequency distribution

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for standard deviation

standard deviation

[ stăndərd ]


  1. A statistic used as a measure of the dispersion or variation in a distribution, equal to the square root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of the deviations from the arithmetic mean.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for standard deviation

standard deviation

In statistics, a measure of how much the data in a certain collection are scattered around the mean. A low standard deviation means that the data are tightly clustered; a high standard deviation means that they are widely scattered.

Notes for standard deviation

About sixty-eight percent of the data are within one standard deviation of the mean.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.