Oxford Business English Dictionary for Learners of English

(about a country, a region or an organization) able to govern itself or control its own affairs: Tbe company's hotels are run as autonomous units, о an autonomous region of Spain

(about a person or a group of people) able to do things and make decisions without help from anyone else: autonomous team working

isyni independent

au'tonomously adverb: Each bank acts autonomously.

autonomous in'vestment noun [u]

(Economics) an increase in the level of investment for reasons other than a high interest rate

{Finance) investment that a company or an organization makes for reasons other than to increase production

auto parts {also spelled autoparts /'o:taupa:ts; AmE'o:toupa:rts/) noun [pi.] the pieces used to make cars: the auto parts industry

autopilot /'o:taupailat; AmE 'o:tou-/ = automatic pilot

AV /.ei "vi:/ = audio-visual av abbr (only used in written English)

average: av number of pages available /a'veilabl/ adjective

(about things) that you can get, buy or use: The shoe is now available in sports stores around the country, о The new service will be available to customers next month.

О freely/generally/readily/widely available ♦ available facilities/resources/supplies

(about a person) free to see or talk to: Will she be available this afternoon? о The director was not available for comment.

a.vaila'bility noun [U]: the availability of cheap flights о This offer is subject to availability.

average /'aevarid3/ adjective, noun, verb

adjective

calculated by adding several amounts together and dividing the total by the number of amounts: Average earnings are around 35 000 per annum, о households with a below-average income

typical or normal: Forty hours is a fairly average working week for most people, о We can expect above-average financial returns.

noun [C,U]

see also: moving average, weighted average

the result of adding several amounts together and dividing the total by the number of amounts: The average of 4, 5 and 9 is 6. о Food prices have risen by an average of about 5%.

a level which is usual: Employees'pay is above average for the industry, о On average, wages have gone up 2%.

(Insurance) = partial loss

WHICH WORD?

mean/median/mode

These words are used to describe different types of averages. Consider the following series of numbers:

4 4 4 5 6 6 7 The mean (also called the arithmetic mean) is calculated by adding all the numbers together and dividing by how many numbers there are: (4+4+4+5+6+6+7)/7 = 5.14

The median can only be found if the numbers are arranged in order of size. It is the number in the middle of the series: 5

The mode is the most common number: 4

• verb

[+ obj] (not used in the passive) to be equal to a particular amount as an average: Economic growth is expected to average 2% next year.

[+ obj or no obj] to calculate the average of sth: Earnings are averaged over the whole period. ШЗЭ .average 'out to result in an average or equal amount over a period of time or after several occasions: The costs of translation should average out at about 20 per page, .average sth 'out (at sth) to calculate the average of sth: If you average out the seasonal earnings of a tourist guide, they are similar to those of an office worker, .average 'out at sth to have a particular amount as the average over a period of time: Sales growth has averaged out at 20% over the last three years.

'average adjuster noun [c] (Insurance) a person whose job is to calculate how much the insurance companies should pay when a ship or its cargo has been lost or damaged, especially when the payment is shared between several companies

.average 'audience .rating noun [c] (abbr AA

rating)

(Marketing) especially in the US, the percentage of homes that were watching or listening to a particular programme on television or radio during an average minute of the programme: The average audience rating for the show was only 6%.

.average 'earnings noun [pi.] (Economics) in a particular economy, the total amount of money that people earn for work divided by the number of people who are working

.average 'earnings .index noun [sing.] (abbr AEI)

(Economics) an official measurement in the UK that shows the increase in the average amount of money earned by a worker in a year, sometimes

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