quantity
Americannoun
plural
quantities-
a particular or indefinite amount of anything.
a small quantity of milk;
the ocean's vast quantity of fish.
-
an exact or specified amount or measure.
Mix the ingredients in the quantities called for.
-
a considerable or great amount.
to extract ore in quantity.
-
Mathematics.
-
the property of magnitude involving comparability with other magnitudes.
-
something having magnitude, or size, extent, amount, or the like.
-
magnitude, size, volume, area, or length.
-
-
Music. the length or duration of a note.
-
Logic. the character of a proposition as singular, universal, particular, or mixed, according to the presence or absence of certain kinds of quantifiers.
-
that amount, degree, etc., in terms of which another is greater or lesser.
-
Prosody, Phonetics. the relative duration or length of a sound or a syllable, with respect to the time spent in pronouncing it; length.
-
Law. the nature of an estate as affected by its duration in time.
noun
-
-
a specified or definite amount, weight, number, etc
-
( as modifier )
a quantity estimate
-
-
the aspect or property of anything that can be measured, weighed, counted, etc
-
a large or considerable amount
-
maths an entity having a magnitude that may be denoted by a numerical expression
-
physics a specified magnitude or amount; the product of a number and a unit
-
logic the characteristic of a proposition dependent on whether it is a universal or particular statement, considering all or only part of a class
-
prosody the relative duration of a syllable or the vowel in it
Usage
The use of a plural noun after quantity of as in a large quantity of bananas was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable
Etymology
Origin of quantity
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English quantite, from Old French, from Latin quantitās, from quant(us) “how much” + -itās -ity
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.
As phytoplankton grow, they remove large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, making this region the world's largest oceanic sink for the climate warming gas.
From Science Daily
Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan previously introduced an iron based substitute, but that earlier version depended on large quantities of costly chiral ligands.
From Science Daily
Telecoms have a key role to play in the blossoming of generative artificial intelligence, which requires vast quantities of data to circulate swiftly, reliably and securely over operators' networks.
From Barron's
Eventually, two-phase cooling will be needed, with engineered liquids boiling to remove greater quantities of heat.
From Barron's
They then used specialized instruments to measure the quantity, chemical composition, and structure of microplastic particles.
From Science Daily
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.
