quantity

American  

[kwon-ti-tee] / ˈkwɒn tɪ ti /

noun

• quantities
  plural

1. a particular or indefinite amount of anything.

   a small quantity of milk;

   the ocean's vast quantity of fish.

2. an exact or specified amount or measure.

   Mix the ingredients in the quantities called for.

3. a considerable or great amount.

   to extract ore in quantity.

4. Mathematics.

   1. the property of magnitude involving comparability with other magnitudes.

   2. something having magnitude, or size, extent, amount, or the like.

   3. magnitude, size, volume, area, or length.

5. Music. the length or duration of a note.

6. Logic. the character of a proposition as singular, universal, particular, or mixed, according to the presence or absence of certain kinds of quantifiers.

7. that amount, degree, etc., in terms of which another is greater or lesser.

8. Prosody, Phonetics. the relative duration or length of a sound or a syllable, with respect to the time spent in pronouncing it; length.

9. Law. the nature of an estate as affected by its duration in time.

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quantity British  

/ ˈkwɒntɪtɪ /

noun

1. 1. a specified or definite amount, weight, number, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a quantity estimate

2. the aspect or property of anything that can be measured, weighed, counted, etc

3. a large or considerable amount

4. maths an entity having a magnitude that may be denoted by a numerical expression

5. physics a specified magnitude or amount; the product of a number and a unit

6. logic the characteristic of a proposition dependent on whether it is a universal or particular statement, considering all or only part of a class

7. prosody the relative duration of a syllable or the vowel in it

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quantity Scientific  

/ kwŏn′tĭ-tē /

1. Something, such as a number or symbol that represents a number, on which a mathematical operation is performed.

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quantity Idioms  

1. see unknown quantity.

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Usage

The use of a plural noun after quantity of as in a large quantity of bananas was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• quantities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of quantity

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English quantite, from Old French, from Latin quantitās, from quant(us) “how much” + -itās -ity

Explanation

Quantity tells you “how much.” If you're concerned with quantity not quality, it's more important how many you have than how good they are. If you get confused about quantity vs. quality, remember that quant is close to count. In Latin, quantus means “how great” or “how much.” When you count how many oranges are in a bowl, you know the quantity. When you count the grains of sand in a desert, you're counting a very large quantity . . . and you need a new hobby.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

quantity quantities

After three days of investigations, including using a bomb disposal team, police said Tuesday they had found no explosives in the vehicles, but they had retrieved a "quantity of petrol".

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

Sleep quantity and quality is a priority of China’s National Health Commission and a focus in China more broadly.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026

With this large quantity of collaborations in his hands, he made it a priority to spotlight these tracks on “Dosis.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

“This could lead to a qualitative leap in both the quality and quantity of our reports.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Cecilia moved round behind Betty to see what everyone else could see—a huge blackened tray recently pulled from the oven bearing a quantity of roast potatoes that still sizzled mildly.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan

Peatland fires are common in Kalimantan and can smoulder and spread under the soil for weeks or months, emitting huge quantities of smoke and sometimes causing surface blazes.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

Capt Traoré has previously accused smugglers of taking large quantities of gold out of Burkina Faso illegally and said some of the proceeds were helping finance militant groups.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

Rare compounds can easily be obscured by other chemicals that occur in much larger quantities.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

Training and running frontier-level AI models requires vast quantities of computing power, but so does deploying AI across an economy that scales to millions of people, he noted.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026

Pheasants fed quantities too small to kill them nevertheless laid few eggs, and the chicks that hatched soon died.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Related Words

• abundance
• batch
• bulk
• capacity
• length
• load
• pile
• portion
• quota
• size
• sum
• variety
• volume