qua

American  

[kwey, kwah] / kweɪ, kwɑ /

adverb

1. as; as being; in the character or capacity of.

   The work of art qua art can be judged by aesthetic criteria only.

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qua British  

/ kwɑː, kweɪ /

preposition

1. in the capacity of; by virtue of being

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Etymology

Origin of qua

First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin quā, feminine ablative singular of the relative pronoun quī who

Example Sentences

In fact, the history of whaling on its own disproves the central point of “The Killing Age,” that guns were a sine qua non for the making of the modern world.

From The Wall Street Journal

“But now speed and maneuverability are the sine qua non.”

From The Wall Street Journal

In Roberts’ opinion, he speaks about prohibiting universities from considering what he calls race qua race, and that, in my view, leaves institutions with a considerable amount of latitude to adopt and implement policies that would maintain and allow racial diversity to rebound.

From Slate

But I think that, in a world of vigilantism and stochastic terror, it is not just bad for speech qua speech, but for governance qua governance.

From Slate

What I did in the meantime — because I knew that I had to be there and eat the food, and know the people, and that was sine qua non.

From Los Angeles Times