What does averaged mean?
Averaged is the past tense and past participle of the verb "average," one of the most frequently used verbs in statistics, business, and everyday description of quantities. It carries two closely related meanings: to have equaled a mean value over a span of time or across a group, as when rainfall or prices are described as having averaged a certain figure, and to have actually performed the calculation of that mean, as when a researcher averaged a set of measurements. A third, idiomatic use appears in sports commentary, where athletes are said to have averaged points, goals, or wickets per game. The word belongs to neutral register and carries no strong connotation beyond connotations of typicality and regularity. Its enduring usefulness lies in condensing many individual figures into a single representative number, making it indispensable wherever trends are summarized.
verbPast tense and past participle of "average": to have amounted to or resulted in a typical value calculated by adding quantities together and dividing by their number, or to have computed such a mean.
- To have had as a typical or mean value over a period or across a set (e.g., prices averaged ten dollars).
- To have calculated the arithmetic mean of a set of numbers (e.g., she averaged the test scores).
- (Sports) To have achieved or recorded a specified figure as an average across performances (e.g., he averaged twenty points a game).
"The team averaged five goals per match throughout the tournament."
"House prices in the city averaged nearly $600,000 last year."
"She averaged the three readings before recording the result."
The everyday word "average" began life in maritime law — it once meant the financial loss suffered when cargo was thrown overboard to save a sinking ship.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of averaged
The underlying verb "average" entered English in the early sixteenth century from Middle French avarie, itself borrowed from Italian avaria, meaning damage or loss to a ship or its cargo — a term ultimately traced to the Arabic ʿawāriyya, referring to damaged merchandise. In maritime law, the costs of such losses were shared proportionally among all stakeholders, and this notion of proportional sharing evolved into the mathematical idea of distributing values evenly, giving rise to the modern statistical sense. Cognates survive in modern French avarie, which still denotes damage or loss, particularly in shipping contexts.
Related word forms
How averaged is actually used
Neutral register, common in journalism, statistics, finance, and sports reporting. In the sense of reaching a mean value, the subject is usually the quantity itself ("sales averaged 200 units"); in sports usage, the subject is typically the performer.
Easily confused with averaged
"Averaged" concerns computing or reaching a mean value, while "leveraged" means using something (often borrowed money or an asset) to maximum advantage.