Meaning & use
quality
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Meanings
noununcountable
How good or bad something is, judged against other things of its kind.
Grammar: Often used with adjectives such as high, low or poor: the quality is excellent.
Patterns
- the quality of something
- of high quality
The quality of the recording was surprisingly poor.
We chose this fabric because of its quality, not its price.
The school is proud of the quality of its teaching.
nouncountable
A feature of a person or thing that forms part of its character.
Grammar: Countable in this sense: patience is a quality I admire.
Patterns
- a quality of something
- have the qualities of something
Kindness is her best quality.
The wine has a smoky quality that surprised me.
Good leaders share several qualities, such as honesty and calm.
adjectivebefore a nouninformal
Of a high standard, well made or excellent.
Grammar: Comes before a noun and is not used with very: a quality product.
Patterns
- quality time
- quality goods
The shop only sells quality furniture.
We try to spend quality time together every weekend.
The restaurant is known for quality ingredients.
Word forms
| plural | qualities |
|---|
Common combinations
- high quality
- The camera produces high quality photos.
- quality control
- A factory checks every item through quality control.
- quality of life
- Clean air improves the quality of life in a city.
- poor quality
- The poor quality of the paper made the ink run.
- good quality
- She bought a good quality coat that lasted ten winters.
- leadership qualities
- The coach noticed her leadership qualities early on.
Synonyms and how they differ
- standard
- Standard emphasizes a level that is expected or required, whereas quality is a judgment of how good something actually is.
- grade
- Grade is a rank on a scale, often official, while quality is a broader, more general idea of goodness.
- trait
- Trait is used for a quality of a person's character or an animal's biology, and it sounds more precise than the broad word quality.
- attribute
- Attribute is a formal word for any feature of something, while quality often hints that the feature is good.
Opposites
Word family
- qualitative adjective
- concerned with the nature of something rather than its amount
- qualify verb
- to meet the standard needed
- qualified adjective
- having the skills or training required
- qualitatively adverb
- in terms of nature or standard rather than number
Commonly confused: quality or quantity? quality or quantum?
quality vs quantity
Quantity means how much or how many of something there is, while quality means how good it is.
quality vs quantum
Quantum is a physics term for the smallest possible amount of something. It is unrelated to how good something is.
Practice
The shop sells fewer items than its rivals, but it focuses on ___ rather than quantity.
Choose one answer.
Quality is the natural contrast with quantity here, meaning how good the goods are. Quantum is a physics term, and qualify is a verb that does not fit the grammar.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “quality”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.