quality
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkwɒl.ɪ.ti/
note: US, father-bother merger
ipa: /ˈkwɑ.lə.ti/
note: US, father-bother merger
ipa: [ˈkʰwɑ.lə.ɾi]
ipa: /ˈkwɔl.ə.ti/
ipa: [ˈkwɔɫ.ə.ti]
ipa: [ˈkwɔɫ.ə.ɾi]
ipa: /ˈkwɒl.ə.ti/
ipa: [ˈkwɔ̟ɫ.ə.ti]
ipa: [ˈkwɔ̟ɫ.ə.ɾi]
ipa: /ˈkwælɪti/
ipa: /ˈkwælɪtɪ/
Forms: form: qualities
Etymology: From Middle English qualite, from Old French qualité, from Latin quālitās, quālitātem, from quālis (“of what kind”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- (“who, how”). Cicero coined qualitas as a calque to translate the Ancient Greek word ποιότης (poiótēs, “quality”), coined by Plato from ποῖος (poîos, “of what nature, of what kind”).
Senses: examples: text: This school is well-known for having teachers of high quality.
text: Quality of life is usually determined by health, education, and income.
text: “I'll tell you what you're going to do. Have you a clean shirt?” “Several.” “And a toothbrush?” “Two, both of the finest quality.” “Then pack them. You're coming to Brinkley tomorrow.”
ref: 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter I, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
text: He called for China’s cooperation in efforts to improve air quality.
ref: 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: Level of excellence.
examples: text: One of the qualities of pure iron is that it does not rust easily.
text: While being impulsive can be great for artists, it is not a desirable quality for engineers.
text: Security, stability, and efficiency are good qualities of an operating system.
text: Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]
ref: 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:
text: “That's life,” she said, and buzzed off to keep her vigil, leaving me kicking myself because I'd forgotten to say anything about the quality of mercy not being strained. It isn't, as I dare say you know, and a mention of this might just have done the trick.
ref: 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
text: Something about his bearing was uncommitted, as though he were checking not for some bad quality he knew Feldman had, but for some good quality he was afraid he might have.
ref: 2010, Stanley Elkin, A Bad Man:
glosses: Something that differentiates a thing or person.
examples: text: The firſt Solemn Embaſſy that the French King ſent to the late King of SIAM, was in the Year 1685, by Monſieur de Chaumont, who went in Quality of Ambaſſador Extraordinary […]
ref: 1690, “The Preface to the Reader”, in A Full and True Relation of the Great and Wonderful Revolution That Hapned Lately in the Kingdom of Siam in the East-Indies, London: Randal Taylor, page i:
glosses: Position; status; rank.
examples: text: A peasant is not allowed to fall in love with a lady of quality.
text: Membership of this golf club is limited to those of quality and wealth.
glosses: High social position. (See also the quality.)
glosses: The degree to which a man-made object or system is free from faults and flaws, as opposed to scope of functions or quantity of items.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
thermodynamics
glosses: In a two-phase liquid–vapor mixture, the ratio of the mass of vapor present to the total mass of the mixture.
examples: text: To identify quality try asking, "what does it feel like?".
topics: emergency-medicine
medicine
sciences
glosses: The third step in OPQRST where the responder investigates what the NOI/MOI feels like.
examples: text: It is argued that in the last ten years or so, quality broadsheet newspapers have become more like the tabloids. Anthony Sampson has argued that 'the frontier between the qualities and popular papers has virtually disappeared'.
ref: 1998, Bill Coxall, Lynton Robins, Robert Leach, Contemporary British Politics, page 164:
topics: journalism
media
glosses: A newspaper with relatively serious, high-quality content.
Hyponyms: industrial quality
Coordinate terms: sense: a property that differentiates
word: quiddity
Derived terms: data quality
draft-quality
high-quality
letter-quality
letter-quality printing
low-quality
medium-quality
near letter-quality
poor-quality
potato-quality
preview-quality
qualify
qualitative
quality-adjusted
quality-adjusted life year
quality assurance
quality binding
quality circle
quality control
quality fade
qualityless
quality magazine
qualityness
quality newspaper
quality of life
quality of service
quality over quantity
quality requirement
quality start
quality time
qualitywise
redeeming quality
star quality
surface quality
the Quality
the quality
top-quality
total quality management
voice quality