quota
Pluralquotas
- 1A prescribed number or percentage that can act as a maximum, a minimum, or a goal.
Each recruiter must meet a monthly hiring quota or explain the shortfall.
The factory set production quotas for every shift to keep output steady.
Note
Here the number matters more than the sharing: a quota is something you hit, meet or fill. Nathan Rabin, reviewing The Simpsons in 2012, says an episode's laugh quota is more than filled. Captain Olimar in Pikmin 3 Deluxe (2020) hopes that the sooner we hit our quota, the sooner he can go home. Both treat it as a goal, though the same word can also mark a ceiling or a floor.
- 2A proportional part or share: the portion assigned to each person in a division.
Every shareholder received a quota of the profits based on their investment.
Relief workers divided the supplies into equal quotas for each village.
Similarshare, portion, allocation, allotment, ration
Note
Of all the senses, this one stays closest to the Latin phrase quota pars. English kept only the first word and let it stand for the whole phrase. A quota here is relative, a portion measured against what others receive. It usually takes of, as in a quota of the profits or of the supplies. The stress falls on a fair division, not on a target to be met.
- 3A restriction limiting the import of a particular good to a specific quantity.
The new trade deal raised the quota on imported automobiles.
Import quotas on textiles were lifted after years of negotiation.
Similarlimit, cap, ceiling, restriction
Note
Trade policy turns the ceiling of a prescribed number into a rule at the border. A government caps how much of a particular good may be imported during a set period, usually to protect domestic producers. Business and economics writing says import quota, or quota on followed by the good, as in a quota on automobiles or on textiles. Quotas are raised, lowered or lifted.
Practice
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Origin
The word comes from the Latin "quota pars," a phrase referring to a share or portion.