Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Relation in degree or number between two similar things.
  • noun The relative value of silver and gold in a currency system that is bimetallic.
  • noun Mathematics A relationship between two quantities, normally expressed as the quotient of one divided by the other; for example, the ratio of 7 to 4 can be written 7:4 or 7/4. A ratio can often also be expressed as a decimal or percentage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The relation between two similar magnitudes in respect to quantity; the relation between two similar quantities in respect to how many times one makes so many times the other.
  • noun Proportion of relations or conditions; coincident agreement or variation; correspondence in rate; equivalence of relative movement or change.
  • noun Reason; cause: often used as a Latin word in current Latin phrases.
  • noun In musical acoustics, the relation between the vibration-numbers of two tones. It is the physical or mathematical representation of the interval between them.
  • noun In civil law. an account; a cause, or the giving of judgment therein.
  • noun Loosely, a direct and simple ratio: as, the weights of bodies are in the direct ratio of their masses—that is, the weight of one is to that of another as the mass of the former is to that of the latter. Also direct proportion
  • noun See progression.
  • noun A ratio not compound.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Math.) The relation which one quantity or magnitude has to another of the same kind. It is expressed by the quotient of the division of the first by the second; thus, the ratio of 3 to 6 is expressed by 3/6 or 1/2; of a to b by a/b; or (less commonly) the second term is made the dividend; as, a:b = b/a.
  • noun Hence, fixed relation of number, quantity, or degree; rate; proportion.
  • noun See under Compound, Duplicate, etc.
  • noun the constant quantity by which each term is multiplied to produce the succeeding one.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A number representing a comparison between two things.
  • noun arithmetic The relative magnitudes of two quantities (usually expressed as a quotient).
  • noun law Short for ratio decidendi.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the relation between things (or parts of things) with respect to their comparative quantity, magnitude, or degree
  • noun the relative magnitudes of two quantities (usually expressed as a quotient)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin ratiō, calculation, from ratus, past participle of rērī, to reckon, consider; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ratio.

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Examples

  • These laws are often stated thus: the ratio of the octave to the fundamental is as two is to one; that of the major third as five is to four; that of the perfect fifth as three is to two, and so on through the entire series of pitches embraced within the octave, the _ratio_ being of course the same for all octaves.

    Music Notation and Terminology Karl Wilson Gehrkens 1928

  • When a ratio is duplicate of another ratio» the point/defcribes the difference of the terms in a double time*

    Encyclopædia britannica; 1797

  • Avoid confusion with actual numbers by using the word ratio or a phrase such as a 2-to-1 majority, rather than a 2-to-1 vote in the Senate or the like.

    Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage PAUL R. MARTIN 2002

  • Avoid confusion with actual numbers by using the word ratio or a phrase such as a 2-to-1 majority, rather than a 2-to-1 vote in the Senate or the like.

    Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage PAUL R. MARTIN 2002

  • It issued new talking points approved by the legal departement, telling spokespeople to say that calcium and magnesium are not important in a sports drink — only tiny amounts of these minerals are lost through sweat, and the tinier amounts in ION4 (remember that the ratio is the same, not the content) provide no material benefit.

    Archive 2009-08-01 Rebecca Tushnet 2009

  • If you take out the illegals that should be getting health care in the first place and then the people making more than 75k a year that can afford it themselves the ratio is about the same.

    Democratic senator: Public health insurance option dead 2009

  • It issued new talking points approved by the legal departement, telling spokespeople to say that calcium and magnesium are not important in a sports drink — only tiny amounts of these minerals are lost through sweat, and the tinier amounts in ION4 (remember that the ratio is the same, not the content) provide no material benefit.

    Hoist on its own potassium: Gatorade loses to Powerade Rebecca Tushnet 2009

  • If the ratio is at 85% to 90% then a Public Option or early medicare buy-in is not necessary.

    Lieberman: Moving towards a 'yes' vote 2009

  • This ratio is also higher than 98% of all those taken during the past 12 months.

    Smart Options Plays On Amazon, Ebay And Overstock Jocelynn Drake 2010

  • This ratio is also higher than 98% of all those taken during the past 12 months.

    Smart Options Plays On Amazon, Ebay And Overstock Jocelynn Drake 2010

  • While opinions on the exact numerical specifications of The Ratio vary, in short, it goes something like this: If the number of replies to a tweet vastly outpaces its engagement in terms of likes and retweets, then something has gone horribly wrong.

    How to Know If You've Sent a Horrible Tweet Luke O’Neil 2017

Comments

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  • @Logos-wanting-to-change-name: since also associated with the concept of "reason"

    August 23, 2008