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# sample

«sample» in Mova's school dictionary: **a small amount or part of something that shows what the…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a sample, samples); verb (sample, samples, sampled, sampling)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A sample is a small amount or part of something that shows what the rest is like. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#m1)

2) A free sample is a small amount of a product given to try. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#m2)

3) In science and maths, a sample is a group chosen from a larger group to be tested or studied. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#m3)

4) To sample means to try or taste a little of something. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#m4)

5) In music, a sample is a short piece of sound reused in a new song. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

Science: take a soil, water or leaf sample; doctors take blood samples. Maths and statistics: survey a sample of pupils to learn about the whole school — a bigger, random sample is fairer. Everyday life: free samples in shops; sample food at a market. Phrases: a sample of, free sample, blood sample, take a sample, sample size.

### examples

- We took a sample of pond water to look at under the microscope. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x1)
- The shop gave out free samples of cheese. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x2)
- The nurse took a blood sample. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x3)
- We asked a sample of 30 pupils about their favourite fruit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x4)
- Would you like to sample the soup? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x5)
- Here is a sample of my best handwriting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x6)
- A bigger sample gives a more reliable result. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x7)
- Nobody doubted but the Fairy gave herein a sample of her art, that the Princess, while she continued sleeping, might have nothing to fear from any curious people. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/#x8)

### note

Countable: a sample, samples. Verb past: sampled. In maths: results from a sample are only an estimate for the whole group — if 10 of 30 pupils in the sample like apples, about one third of the school might. A sample that is too small or not random can mislead.

### In the corpora

- [Japanese probes brought back dust from the asteroids Itokawa and Ryugu, and NASA's OSIRIS-REx returned samples from Bennu in 2023.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/space/9-asteroids-and-the-asteroid-belt/12/)
- [Your friends are not a fair sample of everyone; neither is asking only people on your side.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/166-everyone-has-one-the-crowd-is-not-a-reason/19/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sample» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sample/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.