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quantity

 - 5 dictionary results

quan⋅ti⋅ty

  [kwon-ti-tee]
–noun, plural -ties.
1. a particular or indefinite amount of anything: a small quantity of milk; the ocean's vast quantity of fish.
2. an exact or specified amount or measure: Mix the ingredients in the quantities called for.
3. a considerable or great amount: to extract ore in quantity.
4. Mathematics.
a. the property of magnitude involving comparability with other magnitudes.
b. something having magnitude, or size, extent, amount, or the like.
c. magnitude, size, volume, area, or length.
5. Music. the length or duration of a note.
6. Logic. the character of a proposition as singular, universal, particular, or mixed, according to the presence or absence of certain kinds of quantifiers.
7. that amount, degree, etc., in terms of which another is greater or lesser.
8. Prosody, Phonetics. the relative duration or length of a sound or a syllable, with respect to the time spent in pronouncing it; length.
9. Law. the nature of an estate as affected by its duration in time.
Use quantity in a Sentence
Origin:
1250–1300; ME quantite < OF < L quantitās, equiv. to quant(us) how much + -itās -ity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To quantity
quan·ti·ty   (kwŏn'tĭ-tē)   
n.   pl. quan·ti·ties

    1. A specified or indefinite number or amount.

    2. A considerable amount or number: sells drugs wholesale and in quantity.

    3. An exact amount or number.

    4. Linguistics The relative amount of time needed to pronounce a vowel, consonant, or syllable.

    5. The duration of a syllable in quantitative verse.

  2. The measurable, countable, or comparable property or aspect of a thing.

  3. Mathematics Something that serves as the object of an operation.

    1. Linguistics The relative amount of time needed to pronounce a vowel, consonant, or syllable.

    2. The duration of a syllable in quantitative verse.

  5. Logic The exact character of a proposition in reference to its universality, singularity, or particularity.


[Middle English quantite, from Old French, from Latin quantitās, quantitāt-, from quantus, how great; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

quantity 
c.1325, from O.Fr. quantite (Fr. quantité), from L. quantitatem (nom. quantitas, coined as a loan-translation of Gk. posotes) "relative greatness or extent," from quantus "how much," from quam "how, how much."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Science Dictionary
quantity   (kwŏn'tĭ-tē)  Pronunciation Key 
Something, such as a number or symbol that represents a number, on which a mathematical operation is performed.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Idioms & Phrases

quantity

see unknown quantity.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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