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known quantity

noun

  1. Mathematics. a quantity whose value is given: in algebra, frequently represented by a letter from the first part of the alphabet, as a, b, or c.
  2. any factor, circumstance, etc., that is already accepted or familiar:

    Her honesty is a known quantity.



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Word History and Origins

Origin of known quantity1

First recorded in 1975–80
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Example Sentences

They are receiving a known quantity for a point guard who hasn’t played an NBA game in nearly two years.

They’ll be more likely to order from you, a known quantity, rather than the thousands of other retailers jockeying for their attention.

What’s more, Supreme has already done tie-ups with Vans—another brand with streetwear and skateboard cred—the North Face, and Timberland, so it is a known quantity to VF.

From Fortune

Qualitatively evaluate what the known quantities are doing on their various types of pages.

Profiling known quantities on the SERP for the topics your sites deal with could be a great way to head off any potential negative impact from a pending core update.

Bill Cosby was already a known quantity when The Cosby Show began in 1984.

Eight iterations in, Mario Kart has become something of a known quantity.

So when Vitter got into trouble, he was a known quantity who had shown himself to be politically formidable.

Getting hold of a known quantity is one thing, but—as evidenced by the results thus far—making it work is another.

But a negative that high is frightening for a known quantity.

She had an atomic weight upon which you could depend as upon any other known quantity.

The finely-divided substance containing the dioxide is digested in a solution of a known quantity of iron in sulphuric acid.

Her ideas were both contagious and epidemic, and she was always a known quantity in the place.

The materialist still makes use of the notion of eternity, and frequently handles it as though it were a perfectly known quantity.

A community like this is made up of the absolutely known quantity—of types repeating themselves through centuries.

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Know-Nothingsknow one's own mind