I. -əd.ē, -ətē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English qualite, from Old French qualité, from Latin qualitat-, qualitas (translation of Greek poiotēs ), from qualis of what kind + -tat-, -tas -ty; akin to Latin qui who — more at who
1.
a. : peculiar and essential character : nature , kind
differences in the quality of the two temperaments — M.D.Howe
self-interest and sympathy, opposite in quality — John Dewey
the quality of mercy is not strained — Shakespeare
the offender knew the nature and quality of the act — B.N.Cardozo
take on the quality of animate life — H.V.Gregory
b. : a distinctive inherent feature : property , virtue
the qualities of the circle
has the … quality that its color and spectrum fade out — Albert Szent-Györgyi
herbs … and their true qualities — Shakespeare
c. : a character, position, or role usually assumed temporarily : capacity — usually used in the phrases in quality of, in the quality of
I make this inquiry in quality of an antiquary — Thomas Gray
in the quality of reader and companion — Joseph Conrad
2.
a.
(1) : degree of excellence : grade , caliber
decline in the quality of students — H.L.Creek
the quality of the soil — J.M.Mogey
manufactured in only one quality — Catalog of Plumbing Fixtures
the quality of the … golfer's game — Judson Philips
(2) : degree of conformance to a standard (as of a product or workmanship)
b.
(1) : inherent or intrinsic excellence of character or type : superiority in kind
merchandise of quality
proclaimed the quality of his wife — Compton Mackenzie
colt with … plenty of quality — G.F.T.Ryall
(2) of livestock : refinement or excellence of appearance with close adherence to the standards of a breed
(3) : fineness of texture (as of meat or plumage)
(4) : the characteristics (as texture, marbling, color) of uncooked meat that influence tenderness and palatability
3.
a. : social status : rank
your name, your quality — Shakespeare
especially : high social position
a man of quality
solicited a person of quality for the appointment
the colored people of quality — Oscar Handlin
b. : persons of high social status : aristocracy
companions … among the highest quality in the land — Fashion Digest
— usually used with the
flaunting themselves … as if they were the quality — David Garnett
c. obsolete : a group of persons having distinctive character : fraternity , party , profession
you are not of our quality — Shakespeare
especially : the acting profession
players, I love yee, and your quality — John Davies
4.
a. : a special or distinguishing attribute : characteristic
the boy has many fine qualities
qualities of naïveté and inexperience — Peter Foster
more than any other quality … gregariousness — W.H.Whyte
the man was much greater than the sum of his qualities — Willa Cather
especially : a desirable trait : excellence
a man without qualities — Frederic Morton
the defect as well as the qualities of its … origins — Times Literary Supplement
b. : the character in a logical proposition of being affirmative or negative — see opposition 2a(2)
c. : the character of an estate as determined by the manner in which it is to be held or enjoyed
d. archaic : an acquired skill : accomplishment
she hath more qualities than a water spaniel — Shakespeare
5.
a. : something that serves to identify a subject of perception or thought in the respect in which it is considered
b. : something from the possession of which a thing is such as it is : predicate — see primary quality , secondary quality , tertiary quality
c.
(1) : something that exists or can exist only as a qualification of something else
(2) : an attribute that obtains only after a certain level has been reached and in a certain complex fitted to receive it
in the theory of emergent evolution life and mind are qualities
6. : manner of action — usually used in the phrase adverb of quality
7.
a. : vividness of hue : saturation chroma
b. : a property of a musical tone that distinguishes it from another tone having the same pitch and loudness and that is determined by the number and prominence of the overtones mixed with the fundamental — called also timbre
c. : the identifying character of a vowel sound determined chiefly by the resonance of the vocal chambers in uttering it
d. : the character of an X-ray beam that determines its penetrating power and is dependent upon its wavelength distribution
e. : the attribute of an elementary sensation that makes it different in kind and not simply in intensity, duration, or extent from any other sensation
red, sweet, and cold are qualities of certain sensations
8. : the ratio by weight of water vapor in wet steam to vapor and suspended liquid droplets together usually expressed as a percentage
Synonyms:
quality , stature , and caliber are often interchangeable as indicating, when used in constructions without grammatical modifiers, merit or superiority because of a combination of good characteristics
our candidate is a man of quality, of stature, of caliber
quality may stress inherent, enduring good traits that make one somewhat superior
there was nothing in his outer case to suggest the fierceness and fortitude and fire of the man, and yet even the thick-blooded Mexican half-breeds knew his quality at once — Willa Cather
had quality, if he lacked character — Ellen Glasgow
as those of quality do, not as the vulgar — George Washington
stature is likely to suggest height reached or development attained to and to connote considerations of prestige and eminence
in time the expanding vitality attains its full stature — Ellen Glasgow
men of stature and local prestige formed the personnel of these committees — C.G.Bowers
Unlike quality , stature is freely used with notions of increase or decrease
probings in the realms of life and matter have seemed to diminish man's stature and to belittle his dignity — J.P.Marquand
caliber may connote an unusual but measurable range, scope, breadth of intellectual capacity or of other ability
it is true that, in the early years of George III's reign, there were Britons of the intellectual caliber of Hume and Gibbon who were avowed skeptics — G.M.Trevelyan
in practically every country there is a decrease in the intellectual and moral caliber of those who carry the responsibility of public affairs — Times Literary Supplement
Synonyms:
property , character , attribute , accident : quality is a general term applicable to any trait or characteristic; it is frequently used in relation to inherent traits not immediately apparent and ascertained only after experience or examination
my intolerance is reserved for qualities and not for externals — A.C.Benson
the persistent contemporariness that is a quality of all good art — Aldous Huxley
there was only one quality in a woman that appealed to him — charm — John Galsworthy
property may refer to a peculiar or distinctive trait, often an essential or intrinsic one, which can be used to describe a species or type
since ether is not material it has not any of the usual characteristics of matter — mass, rigidity, etc. — but it has quite definite properties of its own — A.S.Eddington
weight is only an apparently invariable property of matter — Havelock Ellis
character may stress an identifying property
hauynite and noselite show characters like sodalite, but they differ from it in containing the radical SO 4 in the place of chlorine — L.V.Pirsson
deserves credit for having preserved the character and characteristics of his original — B.R.Redman
attribute indicates a characteristic, often an essential concomitant, with which a person or thing has been endowed
this Confederation had none of the attributes of sovereignty in legislative, executive, or judicial power — R.B.Taney
the harder a writer tries to add beauty to clearness, the more surely does he feel himself to be held off from perfection by attributes of language which he did not make and cannot do away with — C.E.Montague
accident refers to an additional, concomitant trait, one nonessential and usually noninherent in the thing under consideration
certainly many mystics have been ascetic. But that has been the accident of their philosophy, and not the essence of their religion — Havelock Ellis
II. adjective
1. : of or relating to high society : aristocratic
quality folks
bring quality people to the wedding — Padraic Colum
2. : of, relating to, or marked by good quality : excellent
quality goods
quality meat
quality stocks
quality leather
this quality revolution in … buying habits — New York Times
make it a quality operation — Virgil Thomson