quota

noun quo·ta \ ˈkwō-tə \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

Definition of quota

1 : a proportional part or share; especially : the share or proportion assigned to each in a division or to each member of a body

2 : the number or amount constituting a proportional share

3 : a fixed number or percentage of minority group members or women needed to meet the requirements of affirmative action

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Examples of quota in a Sentence

The agency imposes strict fishing quotas.
The company has imposed quotas on hiring.
He lost his driver's license because he exceeded the quota of traffic violations.
The department set new sales quotas in January.

Recent Examples of quota from the Web

Earlier this week, Sessions established quotas for immigration judges to reduce court backlogs.

— CBS News, "Sessions orders "zero tolerance" policy on illegal border crossings," 6 Apr. 2018
But transportation editor Alex Davies explains why there’s still hope for electric vehicles: China’s aggressive electric vehicle quotas and environment-loving millennials.

— aarian marshall, WIRED, "This Week in the Future of Cars: Working Through the Chaos," 6 Apr. 2018
The quotas and incentives driving the wealth unit’s strategy were similar to the inducements that led employees in the bank’s retail business to create roughly 3.5 million potentially bogus accounts, these people said.

— neil weinberg, Bloomberg.com, "Wells Fargo Sales Push Extended to Wealth Unit, Ex-Workers Say," 5 Apr. 2018
President Trump set this year's quota at 45,000, the lowest number since Congress passed the 1980 Refugee Act.

— peter rowe, sandiegouniontribune.com, "This Easter, San Diego churches see a stronger commitment to a shrinking pool of refugees," 1 Apr. 2018
In 2012, Ron Unz, a former publisher of the American Conservative, argued that Ivy League schools have an Asian quota.

— alvin chang, Vox, "Asians are being used to make the case against affirmative action. Again.," 28 Mar. 2018
More than 200 refugees start to move towards to Hungary after Hungarians voted to reject refugee quotas.

— orlando crowcroft, Newsweek, "Europe's Far Right is Flourishing—Just Ask Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s Prime Minister," 20 Mar. 2018
Putting quotas on critical minerals, as China did in 2010, would resemble the worst cartel-like tactics of the oil markets.

— The Economist, "A good, clean fightGlobal powers need to take the geopolitics out of energy," 15 Mar. 2018
Without that, the director of Sierra Club's Hoosier chapter said the agency can't know what a viable bobcat population looks like and where the quota should be set.

— sarah bowman, Indianapolis Star, "Indiana DNR proposes to allow hunting and trapping of bobcats," 5 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'quota.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of quota

Medieval Latin, from Latin quota pars how great a part

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1618

See Words from the same year

quota Synonyms

Financial Definition of QUOTA

quota

noun

What It Is

Quota can refer to a measure that sets the limits, either minimum or maximum, on a particular activity.

How It Works

Quotas are usually set by government or by an organization of producers of a particular product.

For trade quotas, governments set the quota limiting the import of a particular product, restricting the access to the domestic market by an offshore producer, and giving the domestic producers the opportunity to improve their position in the market. Such protectionist policies in industries including steel, autos, and many consumer electronics products, have protected domestic industry from international competition.

In production quotas, a government or a group of producers, limit the supply of a particular product in order to maintain a certain price level. For example, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries sets a production quota for crude oil in order to "maintain" the price of crude oil in world markets.

Why It Matters

Quotas counteract natural market forces and trends and usually upset normal business cycles. For example, protecting domestic industry from international competition has kept it alive, but has not increased its competitiveness. In an increasingly global economic marketplace, quotas tend to weaken domestic industry. As for production quotas, while maintaining prices in the world markets may sound like a good idea for producers, it can have the effect of forcing consumers to find alternative products (e.g., the search for alternative energy in the case of oil) or worse (e.g., take up arms to fight for rights to natural resources).

Source: Investing Answers