Etimology
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”).
noun
quality (countable and uncountable, plural qualities)
(uncountable) Level of excellence.
(countable) Something that differentiates a thing or person.
(archaic) Position; status; rank.
(archaic) High social position. (See also the quality.)
(uncountable) The degree to which a man-made object or system is free from bugs and flaws, as opposed to scope of functions or quantity of items.
(thermodynamics) In a two-phase liquid–vapor mixture, the ratio of the mass of vapor present to the total mass of the mixture.
(emergency medicine, countable) The third step in OPQRST where the responder investigates what the NOI/MOI feels like.
(countable, UK, journalism) A newspaper with relatively serious, high-quality content.
Examples
This school is well-known for having teachers of high quality.
Quality of life is usually determined by health, education, and income.
“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.”
He called for China’s cooperation in efforts to improve air quality. Audio
Audio
One of the qualities of pure iron is that it does not rust easily.
While being impulsive can be great for artists, it is not a desirable quality for engineers.
Security, stability, and efficiency are good qualities of an operating system.
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: […]
“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.
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.
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 […]
A peasant is not allowed to fall in love with a lady of quality.
Membership of this golf club is limited to those of quality and wealth.
To identify quality try asking, "what does it feel like?".
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'.
Related words
synonyms
See also Thesaurus:characteristic
hyponyms
human quality
industrial quality
coordinate terms
(a property that differentiates): quiddity
adjective
quality (comparative more quality, superlative most quality)
Being of good worth, well made, fit for purpose; of high quality.
Examples
We only sell quality products.
That was a quality game by Jim Smith.
A quality system ensures products meet customer requirements.
A model for discriminating women! A "quality" coat in every sense!
I mean a lot of the money that obviously goes into universities and their libraries and their facilities and their academics and stuff but I mean I haven’t had a very quality degree to be honest. I think the quality of my education has been crap . . .
For one I wanted to have what I considered a very quality tracking device.
A very quality ball club; that was the Braves.
Related words
related terms
qualia
qualitative