/ kwaɪt; NAmE / adverb
1.
( BrE ) (not used with a negative) to some degree
SYN fairly , pretty :
quite big / good / cold / warm / interesting
He plays quite well.
I quite like opera.
HELP NOTE : When quite is used with an adjective before a noun, it comes before
a
or
an
. You can say:
It's quite a small house
or
Their house is quite small
but not It's a quite small house.
2.
( BrE ) to the greatest possible degree
SYN completely , absolutely , entirely :
quite delicious / amazing / empty / perfect
This is quite a different problem.
I'm quite happy to wait for you here.
Flying is quite the best way to travel.
It wasn't quite as simple as I thought it would be.
Quite frankly , I don't blame you.
I've had quite enough of your tantrums.
Are you quite sure ?
I quite agree .
I don't quite know what to do next.
Quite apart from all the work, he had financial problems.
The theatre was not quite (= was almost) full.
It's like being in the Alps, but not quite.
'I almost think she prefers animals to people.' ' Quite right too ,' said Bill.
'I'm sorry to be so difficult.' ' That's quite all right .'
3.
to a great degree; very; really :
You'll be quite comfortable here.
I can see it quite clearly.
( NAmE )
'You've no intention of coming back?' 'I'm quite sorry, but no, I have not.'
4.
(also formal quite so ) ( BrE ) used to agree with sb or show that you understand them :
'He's bound to feel shaken after his accident.' 'Quite.'
•
IDIOMS
- quite a / the sth
- quite a lot (of sth)
- quite some sth
—more at contrary , few pronoun
••
WHICH WORD
quite / fairly / rather / pretty
Look at these examples:
The exam was fairly difficult.
The exam was quite difficult.
The exam was rather difficult.
Quite is a little stronger than fairly and rather is a little stronger than quite . Rather is not very common in NAmE ; pretty has the same meaning and this is used in informal BrE too:
The exam was pretty difficult.
In BrE quite has two meanings:
I feel quite tired today
(= fairly tired ). With adjectives that describe an extreme state ('non-gradable' adjectives) it means 'completely' or 'absolutely':
I feel quite exhausted.
With some adjectives, both meanings are possible. The speaker's stress and intonation will show you which is meant:
Your essay is ˈquite good
(= fairly good — it could be better );
Your essay is quite ˈgood
(= very good, especially when this is unexpected ).
In NAmE quite usually means something like 'very', not 'fairly' or 'rather'. Pretty is used instead for this sense.
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : from the obsolete adjective quite , variant of quit .