Average vs Fair - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between average and fair

is that average is financial loss due to damage to transported goods; compensation for damage or loss while fair is something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective).

As adjectives the difference between average and fair

is that average is constituting or relating to the average while fair is beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality.

As verbs the difference between average and fair

is that average is to compute the arithmetic mean of while fair is to smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).

As an adverb fair is

clearly; openly; frankly; civilly; honestly; favorably; auspiciously; agreeably.

average

English

(wikipedia average)

Noun

(en noun)

(legal, marine) Financial loss due to damage to transported goods; compensation for damage or loss.

* 2008 , Filiberto Agusti, Beverley Earle, Richard Schaffer, Filiberto Agusti, Beverley Earle, International Business Law and Its Environment , page 219,

Historically, the courts have allowed a general average' claim only where the loss occurred as a result of the ship being in immediate peril.The court awarded the carrier the general '''average''' claim. It noted that “a ship?s master should not be discouraged from taking timely action to avert a disaster,” and need not be in actual peril to claim general ' average .

Customs duty or similar charge payable on transported goods.

Proportional or equitable distribution of financial expense.

(mathematics) The arithmetic mean.

* {{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty

, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}

The average of 10, 20 and 24 is (10 + 20 + 24)/3 = 18.

(statistics) Any measure of central tendency, especially any mean, the median, or the mode.

(sports) An indication of a player's ability calculated from his scoring record, etc.

(UK, legal, obsolete) The service that a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the animals of the tenant, such as the transportation of wheat, turf, etc.

(UK, in the plural) In the corn trade, the medial price of the several kinds of grain in the principal corn markets.

Usage notes

* (sense) The term average' may refer to the statistical mean, median or mode of a batch, sample, or distribution, or sometimes any other measure of central tendency. Statisticians and responsible news sources are careful to use whichever of these specific terms is appropriate. In common usage, ' average refers to the arithmetic mean. It is, however, a common rhetorical trick to call the most favorable of mean, median and mode the "average" depending on the interpretation of a set of figures that the speaker or writer wants to promote.

Coordinate terms

* (measure of central tendency) arithmetic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean, mean, median, mode

Derived terms

* above average * average atomic mass * averager * batting average * below average * bowling average * earned run average * general average * grade point average * height above average terrain * law of averages * moving average * on average * particular average * rolling average * slugging average * subaverage * time average * weighted average * weighted-average cost of capital

Adjective

(en adjective)

(not comparable) Constituting or relating to the average.

The average age of the participants was 18.5.

Neither very good nor very bad; rated somewhere in the middle of all others in the same category.

I soon found I was only an average chess player.

Typical.

* 2002 , Andy Turnbull, The Synthetic Beast: When Corporations Come to Life , page 12,

We tend to think that exceptionally attractive men and women are outstanding but the fact is that they are more average than most.

* 2004 , Deirdre V. Lovecky, Different Minds: Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Deficits , page 75,

Things that never would occur to more average children, with and without AD/HD, will give these children nightmares.

* '2009'', Susan T. Fiske, ''Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology , page 73,

In other words, highly attractive people like highly attractive communicators and more average' people like more ' average communicators.

The average family will not need the more expensive features of this product.

(informal) Not outstanding, not good, banal; bad or poor.

* 2002 , Andy Slaven, Video Game Bible, 1985-2002 , page 228,

The graphics, sound, and most everything else are all very average . However, the main thing that brings this game down are the controls - they feel very clumsy and awkward at times.

* 2005 , Brad Knight, Laci Peterson: The Whole Story: Laci, Scott, and Amber's Deadly Love Triangle , page 308,

But what the vast majority of the populace doesn?t realise is the fact that he?s only on TV because he became famous from one case, Winona Ryder's, which, by the way, he lost because he?s only a very average attorney.

* 2009 , Carn Tiernan, On the Back of the Other Side , page 62,

In the piano stool there was a stack of music, mostly sentimental ballads intended to be sung by people with very average voices accompanied by not very competent pianists.

Synonyms

* (constituting or relating to the average) mean; expectation (colloquial) * (neither very good nor very bad) mediocre, medium, middle-ranking, middling, unremarkable, so-so, * (typical) conventional, normal, regular, standard, typical, usual, bog-standard (slang) * ordinary, uninspiring

Antonyms

* (neither very good nor very bad) extraordinary

Derived terms

* average bear * average Joe * averagely * averageness

Verb

(averag)

(informal) To compute the arithmetic mean of.

If you average 10, 20 and 24, you get 18.

Over a period of time or across members of a population, to have or generate a mean value of.

The daily high temperature last month averaged 15°C.

To divide among a number, according to a given proportion.

to average a loss

To be, generally or on average.

* 1872 Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds

Gulls average much larger than terns, with stouter build

Derived terms

* average down * average out * average up * averageable * unaveraged

fair

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) fayr, feir, fager, from (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)

Beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality.

*{{quote-book, year=1917, year_published=2008

, edition=HTML, author=(Edgar Rice Burroughs), publisher=The Gutenberg Project , title= A Princess of Mars , passage="It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father's father, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied the fair prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice.}}

*{{quote-book, year=2010, author=(Stephan Grundy)

, title= Beowulf , genre=Fiction, publisher=iUniverse, isbn=9781440156977, page=33 , passage=And yet he was also, though many generations separated them, distant cousin to the shining eoten-main Geard, whom the god Frea Ing had seen from afar and wedded; and to Scatha, the fair daughter of the old thurse Theasa, who had claimed a husband from among the gods as weregild for her father's slaying: often, it was said, the ugliest eotens would sire the fairest maids.}}

Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent.

*Book of Common Prayer

*:a fair white linen cloth

Light in color, pale, particularly as regards skin tone but also referring to blond hair.

*1677 , (Matthew Hale), The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature , page 200

*:the northern people large and fair -complexioned

*:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. In complexion fair , and with blue or gray eyes, he was tall as any Viking, as broad in the shoulder.

Just, equitable.

*:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

Adequate, reasonable, or decent.

*, chapter=3

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}

Favorable to a ship's course.

Not overcast; cloudless; clear; pleasant; propitious; said of the sky, weather, or wind, etc.

*(Matthew Prior) (1664-1721)

*:You wish fair winds may waft him over.

Free from obstacles or hindrances; unobstructed; unencumbered; open; direct; said of a road, passage, etc.

*Sir (Walter Raleigh) (ca.1554-1618)

*:The caliphs obtained a mighty empire, which was in a fair way to have enlarged.

(lb) Without sudden change of direction or curvature; smooth; flowing; said of the figure of a vessel, and of surfaces, water lines, and other lines.

(lb) Between the baselines.

Synonyms

* (beautiful) beautiful, pretty, lovely * (unblemished) pure, clean, neat * (light in color) pale * (just) honest, just, equitable

Derived terms

* all's fair in love and war * fair and square * fair cop * fair copy * fair go * fair play * fair sex * fair to middling * fair use * fair-weather friend * to be fair

Noun

(fair)

Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective).

When will we learn to distinguish between the fair and the foul?

(obsolete) A woman, a member of the ‘fair sex’; also as a collective singular, women.

* 1744 , , act 2, scene 8

''Love and Hymen, hand in hand,

''Come, restore the nuptial band!

''And sincere delights prepare

''To crown the hero and the fair .

* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, p. 39:

In enjoying, therefore, such place of rendezvous, the British fair ought to esteem themselves more happy than any of their foreign sisters

* 1819 , Lord Byron, Don Juan , III.24:

If single, probably his plighted Fair / Has in his absence wedded some rich miser [...].

(obsolete) Fairness, beauty.

(Shakespeare)

A fair woman; a sweetheart.

* Shenstone

I have found out a gift for my fair .

(obsolete) Good fortune; good luck.

* Shakespeare

Now fair befall thee!

Verb

(en verb)

To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).

To bring into perfect alignment (especially about rivet holes when connecting structural members).

To construct or design a structure whose primary function is to produce a smooth outline or reduce air drag or water resistance.

(obsolete) To make fair or beautiful.

* Shakespeare

Fairing the foul.

Synonyms

* (to reduce air drag or water resistance) to streamline

Derived terms

* fair off * fair up * fairing

Adverb

(en adverb)

Clearly; openly; frankly; civilly; honestly; favorably; auspiciously; agreeably.

Derived terms

* bid fair * fair and square

Etymology 2

From (etyl) feire, from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

A community gathering to celebrate and exhibit local achievements.

An event for public entertainment and trade, a market.

* , chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.}}

An event for professionals in a trade to learn of new products and do business.

A funfair, an amusement park.

Derived terms

* funfair

Statistics

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