qualitative - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

qual·i·ta·tive

Audio Help [kwol-i-tey-tiv] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

pertaining to or concerned with quality or qualities.

[Origin: 1600–10; < LL quālitātīvus, equiv. to quālitāt- (s. of quālitās) quality + -īvus -ive

]

—Related forms

qual·i·ta·tive·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
qualitative

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

qual·i·ta·tive Audio Help (kwŏl'ĭ-tā'tĭv) Pronunciation Key
adj. Of, relating to, or concerning quality.

[Middle English, producing a primary quality, from Medieval Latin quālitātīvus, from Late Latin, qualitative, from Latin quālitās, quālitāt-, quality; see quality.]

qual'i·ta'tive·ly adv.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

qualitative
adjective
1.	involving distinctions based on qualities; "qualitative change"; "qualitative data"; "qualitative analysis determines the chemical constituents of a substance or mixture" [ant: quantitative]
2.	relating to or involving comparisons based on qualities

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

qualitative

A*nal"y*sis\, n.; pl. Analyses. [Gr. ?, fr. ? to unloose, to dissolve, to resolve into its elements; ? up + ? to loose. See Loose.]

1. A resolution of anything, whether an object of the senses or of the intellect, into its constituent or original elements; an examination of the component parts of a subject, each separately, as the words which compose a sentence, the tones of a tune, or the simple propositions which enter into an argument. It is opposed to synthesis.

2. (Chem.) The separation of a compound substance, by chemical processes, into its constituents, with a view to ascertain either (a) what elements it contains, or (b) how much of each element is present. The former is called qualitative, and the latter quantitative analysis.

3. (Logic) The tracing of things to their source, and the resolving of knowledge into its original principles.

4. (Math.) The resolving of problems by reducing the conditions that are in them to equations.

5. (a) A syllabus, or table of the principal heads of a discourse, disposed in their natural order. (b) A brief, methodical illustration of the principles of a science. In this sense it is nearly synonymous with synopsis.

6. (Nat. Hist.) The process of ascertaining the name of a species, or its place in a system of classification, by means of an analytical table or key.

Ultimate, Proximate, Qualitative, Quantitative, and Volumetric analysis. (Chem.) See under Ultimate, Proximate, Qualitative, etc.

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