Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A specified or indefinite number or amount.
  • noun A considerable amount or number.
  • noun An exact amount or number.
  • noun The measurable or countable property or aspect of things.
  • noun Mathematics Something that serves as the object of an operation.
  • noun Linguistics The relative amount of time needed to pronounce a vowel, consonant, or syllable.
  • noun The duration of a syllable in quantitative verse.
  • noun Logic The exact character of a proposition in reference to its universality, singularity, or particularity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Specifically, same as duration or time-value: said of musical tones or notes.
  • noun The being so much in measure or extent; technically, the intrinsic mode by virtue of which a thing is more or less than another; a system of relationship by virtue of which one thing is said to be more or less than another; magnitude.
  • noun In the concrete, an object regarded as more or less; a quantum; any amount, magnitude, or aggregate, in a concrete sense: as, a quantity of water: sometimes erroneously used to denote that which should be enumerated rather than measured: as, a quantity of people.
  • noun A large or considerable amount.
  • noun A piece or part, especially a small portion; anything very little or diminutive.
  • noun Proportion; correspondent degree.
  • noun In anc. orthoëpy, pros., and metrics, the relative time occupied in uttering a vowel or a syllable; that characteristic of a vowel or a syllable by which it is distinguished as long or short; syllabic measure or time; prosodic length.
  • noun In logic, that respect in which universal and particular propositions differ. See proposition, and logical quantity, below.
  • noun In electricity, the amount of electricity which passes through any section of a circuit in a unit of time: more exactly termed the strength of the current.
  • noun Quantity of comprehension or intension, or logical depth, a relative character of a term such that when it is in excess the term has all the predicates of another term, and more besides; or a relative character of a proposition such that when it is in excess the proposition is followed by all the consequents of another proposition, and more besides.
  • noun Quantity of science (Aquinas) or of information, a relative character of a concept such that when it is in excess it has all the subjects and predicates of another concept, and more besides, owing to its being in a mind which has more knowledge. Logical quantity is to be distinguished from the quantity of a proposition.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The attribute of being so much, and not more or less; the property of being measurable, or capable of increase and decrease, multiplication and division; greatness; and more concretely, that which answers the question “How much?”; measure in regard to bulk or amount; determinate or comparative dimensions; measure; amount; bulk; extent; size.
  • noun (Logic) The extent or extension of a general conception, that is, the number of species or individuals to which it may be applied; also, its content or comprehension, that is, the number of its constituent qualities, attributes, or relations.
  • noun (Gram.) The measure of a syllable; that which determines the time in which it is pronounced.
  • noun (Mus.) The relative duration of a tone.
  • noun That which can be increased, diminished, or measured; especially (Math.), anything to which mathematical processes are applicable.
  • noun A determinate or estimated amount; a sum or bulk; a certain portion or part; sometimes, a considerable amount; a large portion, bulk, or sum.
  • noun (Law) its time of continuance, or degree of interest, as in fee, for life, or for years.
  • noun in a body, its mass, as determined by its weight, or by its momentum under a given velocity.
  • noun (Mech.) in a body, the relative amount of its motion, as measured by its momentum, varying as the product of mass and velocity.
  • noun (Math.) quantities whose values are given.
  • noun (Math.) quantities whose values are sought.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating the value of a collection or group of items.
  • noun An indefinite amount of something.
  • noun A specific measured amount.
  • noun A considerable measure or amount.
  • noun metrology Property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property has a magnitude that can be expressed as number and a reference.
  • noun mathematics Indicates that the entire preceding expression is henceforth considered a single object.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an adequate or large amount
  • noun the concept that something has a magnitude and can be represented in mathematical expressions by a constant or a variable
  • noun how much there is or how many there are of something that you can quantify

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English quantite, from Old French, from Latin quantitās, quantitāt-, from quantus, how great; see kwo- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin quantitas ("quantity"), from quantus ("how much").

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Examples

  • The sphere of quantity, therefore, is absolutely identical with the sphere of the finite; and the phrase _infinite quantity_, if strictly construed, is a contradiction in terms.

    Christianity and Greek Philosophy or, the relation between spontaneous and reflective thought in Greece and the positive teaching of Christ and His Apostles 1852

  • Mr. Ricardo's doctrine is, that A and B are to each other in value as the _quantity_ of labor is which produces A to the quantity which produces B; or, to express it in the very shortest formula by substituting the term _base_, as synonymous with the term _producing labor, All things are to each other in value as their bases are in quantity_.

    Memorials and Other Papers — Volume 2 Thomas De Quincey 1822

  • Mr. Ricardo's doctrine is, that A and B are to each other in value as the _quantity_ of labor is which produces A to the quantity which produces B; or, to express it in the very shortest formula by substituting the term _base_, as synonymous with the term _producing labor, All things are to each other in value as their bases are in quantity_.

    Memorials and Other Papers — Complete Thomas De Quincey 1822

  • 'Dim MyProductInsert = New SqlCommand ( "INSERT into tbl_CartItem (Cart_Name, Product_ID, quantity) VALUES (@Cart_Name, @Product_ID, @quantity)", ProductConn)' MyProductInsert.

    ASP.NET Forums 2009

  • The quantity of nails ** @var int * / private $_quantity; / *** Constructor ** @param int

    PHP Freaks Content 2008

  • But, no doubt, what we lack in quantity is more than made up in quality.

    Archive 2008-03-01 2008

  • The effect of GST, which is a type of quantity tax (specifically, consumption tax but I prefer the term quantity tax because it is more general), is exactly the same as income tax if the GST is applied equally across all goods.

    SARA - Southeast Asian RSS Aggregator 2009

  • The effect of GST, which is a type of quantity tax (specifically, consumption tax but I prefer the term quantity tax because it is more general), is exactly the same as income tax if the GST is applied equally across all goods.

    SARA - Southeast Asian RSS Aggregator 2009

  • But the quantity is there, and is altogether remarkable.

    Music and Peace 1946

  • In every moving body Descartes maintained the existence of a certain power to continue its motion in the same direction and with the same velocity and this power, which he called the quantity of motion, he measured by estimating the product of the mass of the moving body by the velocity that impels it.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

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