How to Use plus or minus in a Sentence

plus or minus

1 of 2 adjective
  • The girls who were brought up to play with this doll are now plus or minus 30 years old.
    — Radina Gigova, CNN, 1 Sep. 2023
  • So would most people who have ushered a child through age 17, plus or minus.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 24 July 2023
  • The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.
    — Sudiksha Kochi, USA Today, 16 Sep. 2025
  • The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
    — John Woolfolk, The Mercury News, 1 Mar. 2024
  • The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus of 3 percentage points.
    — Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Oct. 2025
  • The margin of error was up to plus or minus 6 percentage points.
    — Jamie Goldberg, oregonlive, 25 July 2023
  • The margin of error was up to plus or minus 5 percentage points.
    — oregonlive, 20 Apr. 2023
  • The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
    — Ashleigh Fields, The Hill, 27 Apr. 2026
  • The overall poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
    — Kinsey Crowley, USA Today, 3 Feb. 2026
  • The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
  • The overall margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
    — Emily Guskin, Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2023
  • The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Max Rego, The Hill, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Ashleigh Fields, The Hill, 19 Nov. 2025
  • Its margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Its margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, 14 Oct. 2025
  • The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.
    — John Woolfolk, Mercury News, 11 June 2026
  • The margin of error for the swing state voters was plus or minus 6 percentage points.
    — Bridget Bowman, NBC News, 26 June 2023
  • The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
    — Wayne Parry, Fortune, 6 Feb. 2024
  • The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points for the full survey.
    — Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 8 Mar. 2026
  • The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points for the full survey.
    — Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 7 Mar. 2026
  • The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points for the full survey.
    — Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 4 Mar. 2026
  • The results had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 7 June 2026
  • The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus four percentage points.
    — Daniel Orton, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The poll reports a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 3 Mar. 2026
  • The poll disclaims a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
    — Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Results for the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
    — Maddie Burakoff, BostonGlobe.com, 15 June 2023
  • Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 13 Sep. 2023
  • Nvidia said revenue for the fiscal first quarter will be $78 billion, plus or minus 2%.
    — Katie Tarasov,ari Levy, CNBC, 25 Feb. 2026
  • The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Jenna Sundel, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The total sample has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
    — Victoria Balara, Fox News, 18 Dec. 2023

plus or minus

2 of 2 adverb
  • I have plus or minus five dollars in change.
  • It's been 14 months, plus or minus, and some of us don't really want to be out there quite yet.
    — Star Tribune, 22 May 2021
  • The margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points.
    — Ian Fisher, Bloomberg.com, 2 Jan. 2022
  • The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
    — Yvonne H. Valdez, sun-sentinel.com, 12 July 2021
  • The poll had a margin of error or plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — oregonlive, 6 Oct. 2022
  • The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Merdie Nzanga, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2022
  • To reach a league ranking, each team’s point value (plus or minus) was added, then divided by the number of the teams in the league.
    — John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Aug. 2022
  • The poll of 868 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Jimmy Vielkind, WSJ, 24 Aug. 2021
  • The margin of error in the Channel 8 poll was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
    — Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 2 Nov. 2022
  • The survey of 823 adults had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    — Jennifer Peltz, USA TODAY, 10 Nov. 2021
  • At its most basic, the 10-year yield is a measure of where investors think the Fed will set rates over the next 10 years, plus or minus an amount to reflect the risk of being wrong.
    — James MacKintosh, WSJ, 12 July 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plus or minus.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: