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quality Definition

qual·ity (kwôl′ə tē, kwäl′-)

noun pl. -·ties

  1. any of the features that make something what it is; characteristic element; attribute
  2. basic nature; character; kind
  3. the degree of excellence which a thing possesses
  4. excellence; superiority
  5. Now Rare position, capacity, or role
    1. Now Rare high social position
    2. Now Chiefly Dial. people of high social position
  7. Acoustics the property of a tone determined by its overtones; timbre
  8. Logic that characteristic of a proposition according to which it is classified as affirmative or negative
  9. Phonet. the distinctive character of a vowel sound as determined by the resonance of the vocal cords and the shape of the air passage above the larynx when the sound is produced

Etymology: ME qualite < OFr < L qualitas < qualis, of what kind: see quale

adjective

of high quality quality goods

quality Synonyms

quality

n.

  1. A characteristic

    attribute, trait, property, characteristic, character, feature, mark, point, endowment; see also characteristic.

  2. Essential character

    nature, essence, spirit, tone; see character 2.

  3. Grade

    class, kind, state, condition, caliber, merit, worth, excellence, stage, step, variety, standing, status, rank, group, place, position, repute; see also degree 2.

quality, the broadest in scope of these terms, refers to a characteristic (physical or nonphysical, individual or typical) that constitutes the basic nature of a thing or is one of its distinguishing features the quality of mercy; property applies to a quality that belongs to a thing by reason of the essential nature of the thing elasticity is a property of rubber; character, in this connection, is the scientific or formal term for a distinctive or peculiar quality of an individual or of a class, species, etc. a hereditary character; an attribute is a quality assigned to a thing, esp. one that may reasonably be deduced as appropriate to it omnipotence is an attribute of God; trait specif. applies to a distinguishing quality of a person's character enthusiasm is one of his outstanding traits

quality Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • improve: Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang is helping to improve air quality with a cleaner, quieter engine.
  • enhance: Care is intended to be of the highest possible standard so as to enhance the quality of life of patients, carers and families.
  • assure: They are supported by a network co-ordinator, and parents can access quality assured childcare at no extra cost.
  • ensure: Training advice staff Four training events for 30 CAB advisers per event on consumer guarantees will help to ensure a high quality of advice.
  • assess: The likert scale ratings are an attempt to assess the quality of the observed practice.
  • deliver: An example would be a delivered image quality of 0.45 arcsec when 0.3 arcsec was requested.

Converse of subject

  • impress: Even the most cynical could not fail to be impressed by the quality of the presentations this year.

Adjective modifier

  • high: A classic value: high quality plus a great price.
  • poor: The reasons behind poor water quality at Bournemouth Pier have not always been obvious.
  • sound: The Dualit digital kitchen radio offers the most advanced sound quality.
  • good: The audio cassettes used with the recorder should also be good quality.
  • superior: Support for the claims of the superior nutritional quality of organic milk has also been provided by an Aberdeen University study.

Modifies a noun

  • assurance: Quality assurance of the results has now been completed.
  • control: Even better than customer service would be quality control.
  • standard: It is also required in the quality standard ISO 9001.

Noun used with modifier

  • air: Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang is helping to improve air quality with a cleaner, quieter engine.
  • water: The reasons behind poor water quality at Bournemouth Pier have not always been obvious.
  • picture: The picture quality is very sharp throughout, even during the more energetic boxing scenes.
  • data: Hard copy & Website OPR 43 7 pages Clinical coding data quality procedure.

Preposition: of

  • life: In addition the survey explores views on a wider range of issues relating to people's quality of life.
quality Quotes

You can't fake qualityany more thanyou can fake a good meal.

—Burroughs,William S(eward)

What makes saintliness in my view, as distinguished from ordinary goodness, is a certain quality of magnanimityand greatness of soul that brings life within the circle of the heroic.

—Stowe, Harriet (Elizabeth) ne¤  e Beecher

Courage is a moral quality; it is not a chance gift of nature, like an aptitude for games. It is a cold choice between two alternatives; the fixed resolve not to quit, an act of renunciation that must be made not once but many times by the power of the will.

—Moran, Richard John McMoranWilson, 2nd Baron

The very power of science to hold knowledge as collective knowledge is founded upon a degree and a quality of trust which are arguably unparalleled elsewhere in our culture† Scientists know so much about the natural world by knowing so much about whom they can trust.

—Shapin, Steven

Of such wisdom, the poetic passion, the desire of beauty, the love of art for its own sake, has most. For art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highestquality toyourmomentsasthey pass,and simply for those moments'sake.

—Pater,Walter

I have been young, and now am not too old; And I have seen the righteous forsaken, His health, his honour and his quality taken. This is not what we were formerly told.

—Blunden, Edmund Charles

The historian must have a third quality as well: some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead.

—Forster, E(dward) M(organ)

  The male quality is the creative gift.

—Hopkins, SirAnthony

Un sourire est souvent l'essentiel. On est paye¤   par un sourire. On est re¤  compense¤   par un sourire.On est anime¤ par un sourire. Et la qualite¤   d'un sourire peut faire que l'on meure. A smile is often the key thing.One is paid with a smile. One is rewarded with a smile.One is brightened by a smile. And the quality of a smile can make one die.

—Saint-Exupe¤  ry, Antoine de

It isclosing time inthegardens oftheWest and fromnow on an artist will be judged only by the resonance of his solitude or the quality of his despair.

—Connolly, Cyril Vernon

The irregularand intimate qualityof things made entirely by the human hand.

—Cather,Willa Sibert

'Good', then, if we mean by it that quality which we assert to belong to a thing, when we say that the thing is good, is incapable of any definition, in the most important sense of the word.

—Moore, G(eorge) E(dward)

Rage isthe only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers.

—Breslin,Jimmy

Cricket, like the novel, isgreat when it presents men in the round, when it shows the salty quality of human nature.

—Aristotle

Johnson's aesthetic judgements are almost invariably subtle, or solid, or bold; they have always some good quality to recommend themöexcept one: theyare never right.

—Strachey, (Giles) Lytton

There ought to be some other means of reckoning quality in this the best and loveliest of games; the scoreboard is an ass.

—Cardus, Sir Neville

I yearned to trespass on Quality Street.

—Lasky,Jesse

   Thereisnothing moreunbecoming a manofquality than to laugh;Jesu,'tissuchavulgarexpressionofthepassion!

—Congreve,William

If you are with the quality, or at a funeral, or trying to go to sleep when you ain't sleepy†why you itch all over in upward of a thousand places.

—Twain, Mark pseudonym of  Samuel Langhorne Clemens