Is a sample an example?

A sample can be an example, but it is not always exactly the same as an example, though the words overlap and share origins. Both sample and example come from the same Latin root exemplum meaning something taken out to show what the rest is like. In many contexts, sample is a type of example. For instance, a free sample of perfume is an example of what the perfume smells like, a fabric sample is an example of the fabric. However, there are subtle differences. An example is typically used to illustrate, explain, or clarify an idea or category, such as giving an example sentence to show how a word is used. A sample is typically a physical portion or subset taken from a larger whole for testing, tasting, or analysis, such as a blood sample or a statistical sample of a population. So all samples can serve as examples of the whole they come from, but not all examples are samples in the physical sense. You would say this painting is an example of impressionism, not a sample of impressionism, because it is not a physical piece cut from impressionism. In everyday language, people often use sample and example interchangeably when offering a taste or demonstration, but technically sample emphasizes physical representation and testing, while example emphasizes illustration of a concept.