MEANING
A set whose members all belong to another specified set.
Use it for
restricting analysis to a defined group; identifying members within a larger collection; distinguishing a selected group from a representative sampleNames set membership precisely without assuming that a selected group represents the whole. Academic functions: Comparison / Contrast, Research / Methodology.
Words that belong together
- subset of the population
- proper subset
- a defined subset
On the page
The analysis examines a subset of respondents who completed both interviews.
In set theory, a set is a subset of itself, although it is not a proper subset of itself.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- subset
Usage notes
Count noun: subset, subsets; subset of a stated set. A proper subset is smaller than the full set; subset alone can include equality. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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