quota
Americannoun
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quotas
plural
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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
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a proportional part or share of a fixed total amount or quantity.
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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
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the proportional share or part of a whole that is due from, due to, or allocated to a person or group
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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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Citizenship and Immigration Services employees had been tasked with quickly reviewing the voter information of thousands of people in search of suspected noncitizen voters, and were given a quota of investigating 40 subjects per day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The EU said Ukraine's specific steel quota guaranteed exports of the metal, but acknowledged this was at a "level lower than in the past years".
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
The quota is expected to take effect in coming months and would increase by 6% in each of the following three years, officials said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The EU will impose an annual quota of 350,000 units in the first year, EU officials said Monday, adding that the amount can increase by 6% in each of the following three years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
After perhaps half an hour of visiting among the tables, the foreman reminded us that we had a day’s quota to meet and people drifted back to their places.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
He believes quotas are good for the game.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
At the meeting in St Andrews in September, the Scottish FA proposed quotas, as well as financial incentives, in an attempt to increase game time for young Scottish players.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
Beijing has said it firmly opposes import quotas.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
However, Chinese refineries have used less of their existing export quotas than normal for this time of year, as they were banned from exporting fuel in the early days of the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
If I do not exceed my quotas, I will be grateful and glad to keep on working until I do.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
