Average means typical or ordinary, in the middle rather than at the extremes. If you're of average height for your age, you're neither particularly tall nor particularly short. An average student gets grades that are neither excellent nor poor. An average day involves nothing especially exciting or terrible.

The word also refers to a mathematical concept. To find the average of a set of numbers, you add them all together and divide by how many numbers you have. If you scored 85, 90, and 95 on three tests, your average score is 90 (because 85 + 90 + 95 = 270, and 270 ÷ 3 = 90). Baseball players track their batting average to measure how often they get hits. Weather forecasters compare today's temperature to the average temperature for this date.

When we call something average, we sometimes mean it's acceptable but not special, like saying a movie was “pretty average.” But average isn't always disappointing. Most things in life are average: most days, most meals, most conversations. That's what makes the extraordinary moments stand out. Understanding what's average helps us recognize what's truly exceptional, whether it's an amazing performance, an unusually kind gesture, or a score that's well above average.