quality

[ kwol-i-tee ]

noun

, plural qual·i·ties.

1. an essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute:

   the chemical qualities of alcohol.

   Synonyms: feature, character, trait

2. character or nature, as belonging to or distinguishing a thing:

   the quality of a sound.

3. character with respect to fineness, or grade of excellence:

   food of poor quality; silks of fine quality.

   Synonyms: condition, sort, grade, kind, nature

4. high grade; superiority; excellence:

   wood grain of quality.

5. a personality or character trait:

   kindness is one of her many good qualities.

6. native excellence or superiority.
7. an accomplishment or attainment.
8. good or high social position:

   a man of quality.

9. the superiority or distinction associated with high social position.
10. Acoustics. the texture of a tone, dependent on its overtone content, that distinguishes it from others of the same pitch and loudness.
11. Phonetics. the tonal color, or timbre, that characterizes a particular vowel sound.
12. Logic. the character of a proposition as affirmative or negative.
13. Thermodynamics. the proportion or percentage of vapor in a mixture of liquid and vapor, as wet steam.
14. social status or position.
15. a person of high social position:

    He's quality, that one is.

adjective

1. of or having superior quality:

   quality paper.

2. producing or providing products or services of high quality or merit:

   a quality publisher.

3. of or occupying high social status:

   a quality family.

4. 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.

quality

/ ˈkwɒlɪtɪ /

noun

1. a distinguishing characteristic, property, or attribute
2. the basic character or nature of something
3. a trait or feature of personality
4. degree or standard of excellence, esp a high standard
5. (formerly) high social status or the distinction associated with it
6. musical tone colour; timbre
7. logic the characteristic of a proposition that is dependent on whether it is affirmative or negative
8. 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
9. modifier having or showing excellence or superiority

   a quality product

Other Words From

• quali·ty·less adjective
• non·quali·ty noun plural nonqualities
• sub·quali·ty noun plural subqualities

Word History and Origins

Origin of quality¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English qualite, from Old French, from Latin quālitās, equivalent to quāl(is) “of what sort” + -itās -ity

Word History and Origins

Origin of quality¹

C13: from Old French qualité, from Latin quālitās state, nature, from quālis of what sort

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

Like the California fires, which cast an orange hue over the San Francisco Bay Area, the Arctic fires have had a sci-fi quality.

From Vox

Receiving follow-up questions, Google’s John Mueller then reiterated that point, and Ben Gomes, Google’s VP of search engineering confirmed that quality raters don’t influence any page’s rankings directly.

From Search Engine Watch

Ideally, your website looks good and loads quickly, but those qualities alone don’t make a website great.

From Search Engine Watch

Jackson said he still gets quarterly reports on the aquifer’s water quality.

From Voice of San Diego

CTV retargeting allows you to leverage your first-party data and target site visitors with high-quality ads streamed across television.

From Search Engine Land

It could dramatically improve quality of life in communities throughout the developing world.

From The Daily Beast

When he does, here is a gentleness in his voice, a reflective and lovely quality that no movie he has been in has ever captured.

From The Daily Beast

The economy has begun to add jobs, but the quality of those jobs is an increasing concern.

From The Daily Beast

Apple customers, on the other hand, are used to paying premium for perceived quality.

From The Daily Beast

But self-doubt, while a healthy quality for human beings to have, is alas not a plus for politicians.

From The Daily Beast

Without the former quality, knowledge of the past is uninstructive; without the latter, it is deceptive.

From Project Gutenberg

The quality of artistic beauty in articulation is very important, beyond the mere accuracy which is ordinarily thought of.

From Project Gutenberg

Strive to speak or sing fluently without breaking the quality of tone used.

From Project Gutenberg

The object of this practise is to attain facility in manipulating the elements while maintaining the smooth quality of the tone.

From Project Gutenberg

There are two forms of elasticity, one of quantity and the other of quality, both provided for in the act.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• excellent
• exceptional
• fabulous
• fantastic
• good
• great
• incomparable
• outstanding
• superb
• superior
• very good
• wonderful