1
: wholly, completely
not quite finished
2
: to an extreme : positively
quite sure
—often used as an intensifier with aquite a swell guy
quite a beauty
3
: to a considerable extent : rather
quite near
Synonyms
Examples of quite in a Sentence
He felt that the world he had loved had quite gone.
—
Edmund Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 20 July 1986
The men who made love to the left-wing college girls were either medical students, who had contempt for them and forgot them, or jocks, who bragged falsely of having made conquests of quite other girls.
—Renata Adler, Pitch Dark, 1983
In my opinion, my work … ain't quite good enough …
—William Faulkner, in Faulkner in the University, (1959) 1977
Irene Franey, a little older than I, was quite a beauty
—John O'Hara, letter, 30 Dec. 1963
“Are you quite finished?” “Not quite.”
I am quite capable of doing it myself, thank you.
They assured me that I was quite mistaken.
We hadn't quite made up our minds.
She's quite right, you know.
I quite forgot your birthday.
No one realized quite what was happening.
Quite why he left is unclear.
That is not quite what I said.
Edmund Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 20 July 1986
The men who made love to the left-wing college girls were either medical students, who had contempt for them and forgot them, or jocks, who bragged falsely of having made conquests of quite other girls.
—Renata Adler, Pitch Dark, 1983
In my opinion, my work … ain't quite good enough …
—William Faulkner, in Faulkner in the University, (1959) 1977
Irene Franey, a little older than I, was quite a beauty
—John O'Hara, letter, 30 Dec. 1963
“Are you quite finished?” “Not quite.”
I am quite capable of doing it myself, thank you.
They assured me that I was quite mistaken.
We hadn't quite made up our minds.
She's quite right, you know.
I quite forgot your birthday.
No one realized quite what was happening.
Quite why he left is unclear.
That is not quite what I said.
Recent Examples on the Web
And the movie theater industry has been hit quite hard by COVID, and it’s been slow to recover.
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Apr. 2024
Varoufakis has never quite regained the notoriety of 2015.
—Morgan Meaker, WIRED, 9 Apr. 2024
Stewart then pointed out that America’s values are quite inconsistent, especially when comparing the government’s response to the war in Gaza versus the war in Ukraine.
—Michaela Zee, Variety, 9 Apr. 2024
Meanwhile, after much hair-splitting from the judges, queens Plane Jane and Q found themselves in the bottom after performances that didn’t quite stack up to those of Wind and Sapphira Cristál.
—Stephen Daw, Billboard, 9 Apr. 2024
The team, quite famously, has struggled in recent years in short-yardage situations.
—Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024
Monologuing about the minutiae of one’s DNA is self-absorption at, quite literally, the cellular level.
—Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024
Catalano’s smells like mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and various meats and can get quite hot inside.
—Carlos Rico, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Apr. 2024
The flex plan, Dewberry acknowledged, can never be quite as easy or straightforward as the old, cookie-cutter 12-hour shifts.
—Jane Thier, Fortune, 8 Apr. 2024
Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Apr. 2024
Varoufakis has never quite regained the notoriety of 2015.
—Morgan Meaker, WIRED, 9 Apr. 2024
Stewart then pointed out that America’s values are quite inconsistent, especially when comparing the government’s response to the war in Gaza versus the war in Ukraine.
—Michaela Zee, Variety, 9 Apr. 2024
Meanwhile, after much hair-splitting from the judges, queens Plane Jane and Q found themselves in the bottom after performances that didn’t quite stack up to those of Wind and Sapphira Cristál.
—Stephen Daw, Billboard, 9 Apr. 2024
The team, quite famously, has struggled in recent years in short-yardage situations.
—Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024
Monologuing about the minutiae of one’s DNA is self-absorption at, quite literally, the cellular level.
—Jacobina Martin, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024
Catalano’s smells like mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and various meats and can get quite hot inside.
—Carlos Rico, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Apr. 2024
The flex plan, Dewberry acknowledged, can never be quite as easy or straightforward as the old, cookie-cutter 12-hour shifts.
—Jane Thier, Fortune, 8 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quite.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Quite.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quite. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
quite
adverb1
: beyond question or doubt : completely
quite alone
quite sure
2
: more or less sense 1, rather
we live quite near the school
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