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quite. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
quite, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
quite in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology 1
A development of quit, influence by Anglo-Norman quite. For an analogous semantic development from the same root, compare Armenian շատ (šat).
Pronunciation
Adverb
quite (not comparable)
- To the greatest extent or degree; completely, entirely.
- Synonyms: very, absolutely, fully, thoroughly, totally, utterly; see also Thesaurus:completely
- With verbs, especially past participles.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 49, page 118:Thus when they had the witch diſrobed quight, / And all her filthy feature open ſhowne, / They let her goe at will, and wander waies vnknowne.
2005 October 4, Adrian Searle, The Guardian:Nobuyoshi Araki has been called a monster, a pornographer and a genius—and the photographer quite agrees.
- With prepositional phrases and spatial adverbs.
1891, Thomas Nelson Page, On Newfound River:Margaret passed quite through the pines, and reached the opening beyond which was what was once the yard, but was now, except for a strip of flower-border and turf which showed care, simply a tangle of bushes and briars.
2010 October 30, Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian:Religion and parochial etiquette are probed to reveal unhealthy, and sometimes shockingly violent, internal desires quite at odds with the surface life of a town in which tolerance is preached.
- With predicative adjectives.
1950, C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:It was almost quite dark in there and she kept her arms stretched out in front of her so as not to bump her face into the back of the wardrobe.
1992, Rudolf M Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 5:In Lejeuneaceae vegetative branches normally originate from the basiscopic basal portion of a lateral segment half, as in the Radulaceae, and the associated leaves, therefore, are quite unmodified.
- With attributive adjectives, following an (especially indefinite) article; chiefly as expressing contrast, difference etc.
2003, Richard Dawkins, A Devil's Chaplain:When I warned him that his words might be offensive to identical twins, he said that identical twins were a quite different case.
2011 September 18, Peter Preston, The Observer:Create a new, quite separate, private company – say Murdoch Newspaper Holdings – and give it all, or most of, the papers that News Corp owns.
- Preceding nouns introduced by the indefinite article. Chiefly in negative constructions.
1791, James Boswell, “”, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. , volume I, London: Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, , →OCLC, page 227:I ventured to hint that he was not quite a fair judge, as [Charles] Churchill had attacked him violently.
1920, John Galsworthy, “Timothy Stays the Rot”, in In Chancery, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part II, page 212:And with a prolonged sound, not quite a sniff and not quite a snort, he trod on Euphemia's toe, and went out, leaving a sensation and a faint scent of barley−sugar behind him.
- With adverbs of manner.
2009, John F. Schmutz, The Battle of the Crater: A complete history:However, the proceedings were quite carefully orchestrated to produce what seemed to be a predetermined outcome.
2011 October 18, Bob Burgess, The Guardian:Higher education institutions in the UK are, quite rightly, largely autonomous.
- In a fully justified sense; truly, perfectly, actually.
- Coming before the indefinite article and an attributive adjective. (Now largely merged with moderative senses, below.)
1898, Charles Garvice, Nell of Shorne Mills:"My little plot has been rather successful, after all, hasn't it?" "Quite a perfect success," said Drake.
2001 February 7, Paul Brown, The Guardian:While the government claims to lead the world with its plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the figures tell quite a different story.
- With plain adjectives, past participles, and adverbs.
1908, W B M Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. / Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. / “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
2010 November 5, Dave Hill, The Guardian:London Underground is quite unique in how many front line staff it has, as anyone who has travelled on the Paris Metro or New York Subway will testify.
- Coming before the definite article and an attributive superlative.
1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Soul of Laploshka”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. , →OCLC, page 66:Laploshka was one of the meanest men I have ever met, and quite one of the most entertaining.
1923 October 8, “The New Pictures”, in Time:Scaramouche has already been greeted as the finest French Revolution yet brought to the screen-and even if you are a little weary of seeing a strongly American band of sans-culottes demolish a pasteboard Paris, you should not miss Scaramouche, for it is quite the best thing Rex Ingram has done since The Four Horsemen.
- Before a noun preceded by an indefinite article; now often with ironic implications that the noun in question is particularly noteworthy or remarkable.
- 1830, Senate debate, 15 April:
- To debauch the Indians with rum and cheat them of their land was quite a Government affair, and not at all criminal; but to use rum to cheat them of their peltry, was an abomination in the sight of the law.
2011, Gilbert Morris, The Crossing:“Looks like you and Clay had quite a party,” she said with a glimmer in her dark blue eyes.
- Before a noun preceded by the definite article.
1871 July – 1873 February, Anthony Trollope, “The Aspirations of Mr. Emilius”, in The Eustace Diamonds. A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , published 1872, →OCLC, page 288, column 1:It is quite the proper thing for a lady to be on intimate, and even on affectionate, terms with her favourite clergyman, and Lizzie certainly had intercourse with no clergyman who was a greater favourite with her than Mr. Emilius.
2006 February 6, Sherman Alexie, “When the story stolen is your own”, in Time:His memoir features a child named Tommy Nothing Fancy who suffers from and dies of a seizure disorder. Quite the coincidence, don't you think?
- (now rare) With prepositional or adverbial phrases.
- To a moderate extent or degree; somewhat, rather.
Mind your shoes, the basement is quite wet.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:moderately
Usage notes
- This is a non-descriptive qualifier, similar to fairly and rather and somewhat. Used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified. When spoken, the meaning can vary with the tone of voice and stress. He was quite big can mean anything from "not exactly small" to "almost huge".
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
to the greatest extent; completely
- Bulgarian: съвсем (bg) (sǎvsem), напълно (bg) (napǎlno)
- Catalan: completament (ca), del tot (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 挺 (zh) (tǐng)
- Czech: dost (cs)
- Danish: ganske (formal), helt, fuldt ud, fuldstændig
- Esperanto: tute (eo), plene
- Finnish: paljon (fi), kovasti (fi), varsin (fi), sangen (fi)
- French: tout à fait (fr), complètement (fr)
- Georgian: სავსებით (savsebit), სრულიად (sruliad), მთლიანად (mtlianad)
- German: ganz (de), völlig (de), ganz und gar (de), höchst (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient: πάγχυ (pánkhu)
- Hindi: काफ़ी (hi) (kāfī)
- Hungarian: teljesen (hu)
- Irish: ar fad
- Italian: proprio (it)
- Korean: 상당히 (ko) (sangdanghi)
- Latvian: ļoti (lv), gluži, visai
- Malay: agak (ms)
- Norwegian: temmelig (no)
- Old English: eall
- Old Norse: ǫllungis
- Polish: całkowicie (pl), całkiem (pl)
- Portuguese: totalmente (pt), completamente (pt)
- Romanian: complet (ro), total (ro)
- Russian: вполне́ (ru) (vpolné), весьма́ (ru) (vesʹmá), (informal) изря́дно (ru) (izrjádno)
- Slovenian: precej
- Spanish: considerablemente (es), bastante (es)
- Swedish: fullständigt (sv), helt (sv), komplett (sv)
- Turkish: tam (tr)
- Ukrainian: цілко́м (uk) (cilkóm)
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in a fully justified sense; truly
- Bulgarian: наистина (bg) (naistina), действително (bg) (dejstvitelno)
- Catalan: completament (ca), totalment (ca), exactament (ca); verdaderament
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 好生 (zh) (hǎoshēng), 挺 (zh) (tǐng), 夠/够 (zh) (gòu)
- Czech: zcela (cs), naprosto (cs), úplně (cs)
- Dutch: volkomen (nl)
- Esperanto: tute (eo)
- Finnish: täysin (fi), kokonaan (fi), aivan (fi)
- French: vraiment (fr)
- Georgian: ნამდვილად (namdvilad), სრულიად (sruliad), მთლიანად (mtlianad)
- German: recht (de), geradezu (de), buchstäblich (de), ausgesprochen (de)
- Hindi: बिलकुल (hi) (bilkul)
- Hungarian: teljesen (hu)
- Italian: piuttosto (it)
- Japanese: すっかり (ja) (sukkari), 丸で (ja) (まるで, maru de)
- Korean: 완전히 (ko) (wanjeonhi)
- Latvian: īsti
- Marathi: पूर्णपणे (pūrṇapṇe)
- Norwegian: helt (no)
- Old English: eall
- Polish: całkowicie (pl), całkiem (pl)
- Portuguese: realmente (pt), completamente (pt), totalmente (pt)
- Romanian: realmente (ro), cu adevărat
- Russian: во́все (ru) (vóvse), по́лностью (ru) (pólnostʹju), совсе́м (ru) (sovsém)
- Spanish: completamente (es)
- Swedish: verkligen (sv), alldeles (sv), sannerligen (sv)
- Ukrainian: по́вністю (póvnistju), зо́всім (zóvsim)
- Urdu: بالکل (bilkul)
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to a moderate extent
- Bashkir: ҡына (qına)/ кенә (kenə)/ ғына (ğına)/ генә (genə) (in postposition)
- Bulgarian: доста (bg) (dosta)
- Catalan: bastant (ca), força (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 夠/够 (zh) (gòu)
- Czech: docela (cs)
- Danish: temmelig, ret (da), ganske
- Dutch: tamelijk (nl), aardig (nl), best (nl)
- Esperanto: sufiĉe (eo)
- Finnish: melko (fi), kohtalaisen
- French: assez (fr)
- Georgian: საკმაოდ (saḳmaod), მეტად (meṭad), ფრიად (priad)
- German: ziemlich (de) (less than very), halbwegs (de), einigermaßen (de) (more than a little), recht (de) (coll.)
- Hindi: काफ़ी (hi) (kāfī)
- Hungarian: meglehetősen (hu), eléggé (hu), aránylag (hu), viszonylag (hu), (with adjectives and adverbs but not verbs) elég (hu)
- Italian: piuttosto (it)
- Japanese: かなり (ja) (kanari), 結構 (ja) (kekkō)
- Korean: 꽤 (ko) (kkwae)
- Norwegian: ganske (no)
- Polish: całkiem (pl)
- Portuguese: razoavelmente (pt), bastante (pt), bem (pt)
- Romanian: cam (ro)
- Russian: во́все (ru) (vóvse), вполне́ (ru) (vpolné), дово́льно (ru) (dovólʹno)
- Scottish Gaelic: car (gd)
- Serbo-Croatian: dosta (sh)
- Spanish: bastante (es)
- Swedish: ganska (sv), rätt (sv), rätt så (sv), tämligen (sv)
- Turkish: oldukça (tr)
- Tuvan: элээн (eleen)
- Ukrainian: до́сить (uk) (dósytʹ), дово́лі (dovóli)
- Vietnamese: khá (vi)
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Translations to be checked
Interjection
quite
- (chiefly UK) Indicates agreement; exactly so.
“That's a rather ugly colour for a house, don't you think?” — “Quite.”
Etymology 2
From Spanish quite.
Pronunciation
Noun
quite (plural quites)
- (bullfighting) A series of passes made with the cape to distract the bull.
Anagrams
Galician
Verb
quite
- inflection of quitar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Latin
Verb
quīte
- second-person plural present active imperative of queō
Old French
Adjective
quite m (oblique and nominative feminine singular quite)
- Alternative form of quitte
Portuguese
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Old Galician-Portuguese quite, from Old French quitte (“free; liberated”), from Latin quiētus.
Adjective
quite m or f (plural quites)
- quit (released from obligation)
- settled
- divorced
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Verb
quite
- inflection of quitar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkite/
- Rhymes: -ite
- Syllabification: qui‧te
Etymology 1
Deverbal from quitar.
Noun
quite m (plural quites)
- the action of removal
- a swerve or sidestep
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Verb
quite
- inflection of quitar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative
Further reading