quality
Americannoun
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qualities
plural
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an essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute.
the chemical qualities of alcohol.
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character or nature, as belonging to or distinguishing a thing.
the quality of a sound.
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character with respect to fineness, or grade of excellence.
food of poor quality; silks of fine quality.
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high grade; superiority; excellence.
wood grain of quality.
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a personality or character trait.
kindness is one of her many good qualities.
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native excellence or superiority.
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an accomplishment or attainment.
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good or high social position.
a man of quality.
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the superiority or distinction associated with high social position.
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Acoustics. the texture of a tone, dependent on its overtone content, that distinguishes it from others of the same pitch and loudness.
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Phonetics. the tonal color, or timbre, that characterizes a particular vowel sound.
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Logic. the character of a proposition as affirmative or negative.
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Thermodynamics. the proportion or percentage of vapor in a mixture of liquid and vapor, as wet steam.
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social status or position.
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a person of high social position.
He's quality, that one is.
adjective
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of or having superior quality.
quality paper.
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producing or providing products or services of high quality or merit.
a quality publisher.
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of or occupying high social status.
a quality family.
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marked by a concentrated expenditure of involvement, concern, or commitment.
Counselors are urging that working parents try to spend more quality time with their children.
noun
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a distinguishing characteristic, property, or attribute
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the basic character or nature of something
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a trait or feature of personality
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degree or standard of excellence, esp a high standard
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(formerly) high social status or the distinction associated with it
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musical tone colour; timbre
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logic the characteristic of a proposition that is dependent on whether it is affirmative or negative
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phonetics the distinctive character of a vowel, determined by the configuration of the mouth, tongue, etc, when it is articulated and distinguished from the pitch and stress with which it is uttered
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(modifier) having or showing excellence or superiority
a quality product
Synonym Usage
Quality, attribute, property agree in meaning a particular characteristic (of a person or thing). A quality is a characteristic, innate or acquired, that, in some particular, determines the nature and behavior of a person or thing: naturalness as a quality; the quality of meat. An attribute was originally a quality attributed, usually to a person or something personified; more recently it has meant a fundamental or innate characteristic: an attribute of God; attributes of a logical mind. Property applies only to things; it means a characteristic belonging specifically in the constitution of, or found (invariably) in, the behavior of a thing: physical properties of uranium or of limestone.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of quality
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English qualite, from Old French, from Latin quālitās, equivalent to quāl(is) “of what sort” + -itās -ity
Explanation
The qualities of something are its distinguishing features, and those can be good or bad. The qualities you look for when buying a tightrope might include strength and pliability, but you probably wouldn't want one with a slippery quality. Quality can also be used as a purely positive term: "you're a person of quality," or "you've got a quality operation" are entirely complimentary, meaning you and your operation are superior. There's a joke about how "quality control" in fast food chains assures that whenever you order a burger in a restaurant in that chain — whether you’re in Dallas or Des Moines — the quality is always the same — bad!
Vocabulary lists containing quality
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
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Word Generation Social Studies - Ancient Civilizations of Egypt, Greece, Rome
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Scrabble: Words that Begin with Q
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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:
"I always felt in England, people respected me because I was fast and I pressed but they never actually respected the quality and IQ that I play with," Gordon told ITV.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Over the past decade, food producers and retailers have tried to expand the quality and selection of the frozen aisle.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
“Young voters are routinely disappointed with the quality of representation that we’ve been offered,” Hunt said.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Richard Yu, chairman of Huawei’s consumer business, said the company has invested heavily to make breakthroughs in screen reliability and camera quality for its foldables.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
This kaftan was sewn by the best tailors in Lkossa, made with the highest quality cotton, but...it felt wrong.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
If you pressed him a bit, he’d tell you that one of the qualities Colin looked for was an ability to improvise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
“Plastic soul,” then, becomes a conceptual shorthand for The Beatles’ chameleonic ability to absorb a genre’s core qualities and refashion it into something distinctly their own.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
The author ruminates on Brahms’s inner qualities, telling us that Brahms has been misunderstood as uncivilized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
I saw him play there as Spurs captain recently and he has the quality, temperament and leadership qualities to step up to senior international level.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Having felt in him the presence of these qualities, I felt his imperfection and took courage.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
