qua

[ kwey, kwah ]

/ kweɪ, kwɑ /

Save This Word!

adverb

as; as being; in the character or capacity of: The work of art qua art can be judged by aesthetic criteria only.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of qua

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

Words nearby qua

qto., qtr., QTS, qty., qu., qua, Quaalude, quack, quackery, quack grass, quacksalver

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use qua in a sentence

For a post to rank on Google, it is well understood that thoroughness is a sine qua non.
SEO on a shoestring budget: What small business owners can do to win|Ali Faagba|June 4, 2020|Search Engine Watch
Responding with alarm, they seek to buttress the idea of Jewish ethnicity qua Jewish peoplehood.
Shaul Magid's Post-Ethnic Judaism|Zachary Braiterman|May 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
I suppose I plead guilty to that, but I would say that it's not the form qua form that I suspect I will object to about ZDT.
More on Propaganda and Art, and the Well Bought Turn|Michael Tomasky|December 14, 2012|DAILY BEAST
That accumulation of identities is already a sine qua non when speaking of Hispanics, like Zimmerman.
George Zimmerman, Hispanics, and the Messy Nature of American Identity|Ilan Stavans|April 6, 2012|DAILY BEAST

In the land of the industrial revolution, foreign ownership and management is the sine qua non of industrial success.
Britain is in No Position to Rule the Waves|Noah Kristula-Green|March 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST
This unsmoked, wet-cured ham is the sine qua non of Parisian butcher shops: a light, ephemeral meat, sweet but umami.
Easter's Top Five Hams|Mark Scarbrough|March 30, 2010|DAILY BEAST
It teaches you to take your time, or as the Germans call it, it gives you "Ruhe (repose)," the grand sine qua non!
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
Solemnior ea processio fuit, qua sanctissimum Sacramentum festo ipsi die cumtulimus.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. II: Acadia, 1612-1614|Various
Civitas opulenta, dives, fecunda, in qua nemo vivat otiosus.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 (of 10)|Franois-Marie Arouet (AKA Voltaire)
I could never be induced to take the faintest interest in Brompton qua Brompton or a drawing-room qua a drawing-room.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25)|Robert Louis Stevenson
Masochismus Larvatus est species hujus degenerationis in qua sordes physicae sordibus adduntur moralibus.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine|Austin Malley

British Dictionary definitions for qua

qua

/ (kweɪ, kwɑː) /

preposition

in the capacity of; by virtue of being

Word Origin for qua

C17: from Latin, ablative singular (feminine) of qui who

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012