quantity
Pluralquantities
- 1
- 2A large or considerable amount of something.
The warehouse held grain in such quantity that it took weeks to move.
Wildflowers grew there in remarkable quantity each spring.
Similarabundance, profusion, plenty, bulk, volume
Oppositescarcity, paucity, dearth
Note
Here size is the whole point, and the idiom that carries it is in quantity, with no article: the Boeing P-26A was produced in quantity, meaning in large numbers. Once an article or a size word joins it, as in a small quantity or a larger quantity, that word sets the size, and the phrase belongs instead to the neutral "some amount" meaning.
- 3
- 4A measurable amount (a count, a size, or a value) used to express how much of something there is.
Every quantity in the formula must be measured in the same units.
Physicists distinguish scalar quantities, which have only size, from vector quantities, which also have direction.
Similarvalue, amount, magnitude
Note
The root sense of the family. It comes from Latin quantitās, built on quantus, "how much", which is exactly the question a quantity answers. Its standing partner is quality, so choosing between quantity and quality means weighing how much against how good. The word covers both things counted and things measured, and its written abbreviation is qty.
- 5A property of a thing or event that has a magnitude expressible as a number together with a reference.
Mass is a quantity expressed as a number paired with a unit like the kilogram.
Every measurable quantity needs both a value and a reference unit.
Note
Metrology uses the word strictly and separates three things that everyday speech runs together. The quantity is the property itself, such as mass or length. The reference is what it is measured against, usually a unit like the kilogram. The number tells how many of that reference there are. So "five kilograms" is a value of the quantity mass, not the quantity itself, a distinction the everyday sense rarely makes.
- 6A spoken marker in mathematics showing that the whole expression just stated is to be treated as one single object.
The instructor dictated "two x plus five, quantity, all cubed" so students would enclose the sum first.
He emphasized "quantity" while dictating so the binomial would count as a single unit.
Note
A spoken bracket: the word marks where a grouping closes, and the operation follows straight after, as in "x plus 9, the quantity squared." It matters because "x plus y squared" said aloud could mean squaring only y. It occurs with or without the article and belongs to the classroom. Serge Lang uses "ra quantity cubed" in Math!: Encounters with High School Students (1985).
- 7In speech, the length of time for which a vowel or consonant sound is held.
Vowel quantity distinguishes many word pairs in classical Latin verse.
The poet's meter depended on the quantity of each syllable.
Note
Phonology borrows the word for duration: a long vowel and a short one can be the same sound held for different spans of time. Linguists set it beside vowel quality, which concerns how a sound is shaped rather than how long it lasts. It is the familiar pairing of quantity and quality, put to technical use.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of quantity apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Middle English quantite, from Old French quantité, from Latin quantitās ("quantity"), which comes from quantus ("how much").