quantity

noun

quan·​ti·​ty ˈkwän-tə-tē How to pronounce quantity (audio)
plural quantities
1
a
: an indefinite amount or number
b
: a determinate or estimated amount
c
: total amount or number
d
: a considerable amount or number
often used in plural
generous quantities of luckH. E. Putsch
2
a
: the aspect in which a thing is measurable in terms of greater, less, or equal or of increasing or decreasing magnitude
b
: the subject of a mathematical operation
c
: an individual considered with respect to a given situation
an unknown quantity … as attorney generalTom Wicker
3
a
: duration and intensity of speech sounds as distinct from their individual quality or phonemic character
specifically : the relative length or brevity of a prosodic syllable in some languages (such as Greek and Latin)
b
: the relative duration or time length of a speech sound or sound sequence
4
: the character of a logical proposition as being universal, particular, or singular

Examples of quantity in a Sentence

The wine is made in small quantities. The boss is worried about quantity as well as quality. The family buys food in quantity.
Recent Examples on the Web Another year of devastating fires could be especially damaging in the Amazon, which stores vast quantities of carbon dioxide in its trees and soil. Manuela Andreoni, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2024 And leatherbacks and loggerheads, the giants of the turtle family, consume large quantities of open-ocean invertebrates like jellyfish, helping control jellyfish populations. Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 6 Mar. 2024 The 2,500-word letter goes on to accuse the Gigafactory of contaminating groundwater and requiring large quantities of drinking water to produce electric vehicles, echoing similar concerns raised by officials from the local water authority near the facility in February. Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 6 Mar. 2024 Miller said there are allowable quantities for certain things that can be put in those rooms. Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press, 5 Mar. 2024 According to court documents, Thomas was the head of a drug trafficking organization responsible for shipping large quantities of drugs to at least four states (Hawaii, Oklahoma, Alabama, and New Jersey) and smuggling fentanyl into the prison. Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2024 Iran reduced the quantity of near weapons-grade uranium by mixing 31.8 kilograms of the stockpile with uranium enriched to a much lower level, around 2%, according to the report. Adam Pourahmadi, CNN, 27 Feb. 2024 The model required exceptional amounts of freshwater flow into the Atlantic in order to trigger the tipping point — a quantity equal to about seven Greenland ice sheets — according to Josh Willis, an oceanographer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 26 Feb. 2024 The ability to summarize vast quantities of unstructured data and generate creative content (including text, images, and even video!) is intriguing to revenue officers and the broader executive team. Forrester, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024

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

Word History

Etymology

Middle English quantite, from Anglo-French quantité, from Latin quantitat-, quantitas, from quantus how much, how large; akin to Latin quam how, as, quando when, qui who — more at who

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of quantity was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near quantity

Cite this Entry

“Quantity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quantity. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

quantity

noun
quan·​ti·​ty ˈkwän(t)-ət-ē How to pronounce quantity (audio)
plural quantities
1
a
: an amount or number that is not fixed
b
: a great amount or number
buys food in quantity
2
a
: the character of something that makes it possible to measure or number it
b
: something on which a mathematical operation can be performed
multiply the quantity x by y
Etymology

Middle English quantite "amount," from early French quantité (same meaning), derived from Latin quantus "how much?, how large?"

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