quota
Americannoun
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the share or proportional part of a total that is required from, or is due or belongs to, a particular district, state, person, group, etc.
- Synonyms:
- allocation, apportionment, allotment
-
a proportional part or share of a fixed total amount or quantity.
-
the number or percentage of persons of a specified kind permitted to enroll in a college, join a club, immigrate to a country, etc.
noun
-
the proportional share or part of a whole that is due from, due to, or allocated to a person or group
-
a prescribed number or quantity, as of items to be manufactured, imported, or exported, immigrants admitted to a country, or students admitted to a college
Etymology
Origin of quota
1660–70; < Medieval Latin, short for Latin quota pars how great a part?
Explanation
A quota is a specific number of things. If a quota is placed on the total number of apples each visitor can pick at an orchard, it means that once you've picked a certain number of apples, you have to stop. Usually a quota places an upper limit on the total number or amount of some item. There are quotas placed on all kinds of things, like immigrants entering a country, goods exported, or students admitted to a particular school. Quota comes from the Latin phrase quota pars, or "how large a part".
Vocabulary lists containing quota
Vocabulary from The Articles of Confederation
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Human Geography - Middle School
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Human Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"That has led to fewer pupils in primary schools, and that's making it harder for primary schools to fill the quota of the number of pupils they need to be financially sustainable," Sibieta explains.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
The commissioners recommend a quota of between 140 million and 154 million square feet for the first year.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 31, 2026
On behalf of the intervenors, Shayla Myers argued that the encampment removal goal, approved by the City Council in a closed session, became a defacto quota system for sanitation workers to discard homeless people’s belongings.
From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026
Faced with rising competitors in the 1980s, it introduced its famous quota system that enabled it to exert more control over the market.
From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026
A series of blank rectangles had been drawn beside each name which, Leon explained, would be filled in as each student sold his quota of chocolates.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
