PER Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com

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per

[ pur; unstressed per ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

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.
Also . according to; in accordance with:
I delivered the box per your instructions.
He managed to monopolize the meeting, per usual.

adverb

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

per-

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 (H 2 C 2 O 5 ), permanganic (HMnO 4 ), persulfuric (H 2 S 2 O 8 ), acids; potassium permanganate (KMnO 4 ); potassium persulfate (K 2 S 2 O 8 ).

per.

abbreviation for

percentile.
period.
person.

Per.

⁴

abbreviation for

Persia.
Persian.

per

/ pə; pɜː /

determiner

for every
three pence per pound

preposition

(esp in some Latin phrases) by; through
as per
according to
as per specifications
as per usual informal.
as usual

PER

abbreviation for

Professional Employment Register

per-

prefix

through
pervade
throughout
perennial
away, beyond
perfidy
completely, throughly
perplex
(intensifier)
perfervid
indicating that a chemical compound contains a high proportion of a specified element
peroxide
perchloride
indicating that a chemical element is in a higher than usual state of oxidation
perchlorate
permanganate
not in technical usage a variant of peroxy-
persulphuric acid

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Usage Note

Per meaning 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.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of per¹

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin: “through, by, for, for each”; for

Origin of per²

From Latin, combining form of per, and used as an intensive; per

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of per¹

C15: from Latin: by, for each

Origin of per²

from Latin per through

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He can also find sources of revenue to fund his free buses, which may cost upwards of $650 million per year — Mamdani has proposed, among other things, collecting $800 million in unpaid fines from landlords and rearranging the city's $112 billion budget — but Governor Kathy Hochul has balked at raising taxes on the state's wealthiest residents, an increase that Mamdani and other progressives have argued is long overdue.

From

Then there is the money made per matchday to add on.

From

At a minimum of $293 per violation, there’s nothing artificial about the ticket’s price tag.

From

It debuts at No. 78 on the May 3 chart, per Billboard.

From

An earlier message, sent out at 9:11 a.m., alerted parents that “there was a situation on campus that per District Policy resulted in ... going on lockdown. Students and staff are safe. School Police and District are on campus. There is no imminent threat to any student at this time.”

From

Pequot War Pera

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