quota
Americannoun
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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
-
a proportional part or share of a fixed total amount or quantity.
-
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
-
the proportional share or part of a whole that is due from, due to, or allocated to a person or group
-
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
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.
"That has led to fewer pupils in primary schools, and that's making it harder for primary schools to fill the quota of the number of pupils they need to be financially sustainable," Sibieta explains.
From BBC • Jun. 1, 2026
On behalf of the intervenors, Shayla Myers argued that the encampment removal goal, approved by the City Council in a closed session, became a defacto quota system for sanitation workers to discard homeless people’s belongings.
From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026
By February, its production capacity reached about 4.85 million barrels a day, while its latest quota stood at just 3.45 million b/d.
From Barron's • May 4, 2026
I have generally been wary of quota systems.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
Even his own long friendship with her didn’t shelter him when they were behind quota.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
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.
