Meaning & use
quarter
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Meanings
nouncountable
One of four equal parts of something.
Grammar: Countable noun; often used in the pattern 'a quarter of something' or 'three quarters of something'.
Patterns
- a quarter of something
- three quarters of something
- a quarter of an hour
She cut the apple into quarters.
A quarter of the students were absent.
The trip takes about a quarter of an hour.
nouncountable
A period of three months, especially in business or school.
Grammar: Countable noun; often used with ordinal numbers: first quarter, second quarter.
Patterns
- first quarter
- second quarter
- quarter of the year
Sales rose in the first quarter.
The school year is divided into four quarters.
We'll review the budget next quarter.
nouncountableAmerican
A coin worth 25 cents in the US or Canada.
Grammar: Countable noun; used mainly in American and Canadian English.
Patterns
- a quarter
- two quarters
- quarter for something
Do you have a quarter for the parking meter?
He found a quarter under the sofa.
The candy costs two quarters.
nouncountable
A district or area of a town or city.
Grammar: Countable noun; often used in proper names or with 'the'.
Patterns
- the Latin Quarter
- residential quarter
- historic quarter
We walked through the old quarter of the city.
The Latin Quarter is famous for its cafes.
They live in a quiet residential quarter.
verbtransitive
To cut or divide something into four equal parts.
Grammar: Takes an object: quarter the potatoes.
Patterns
- quarter something
- quarter the fruit
Quarter the potatoes before boiling them.
She quartered the orange and shared it.
The recipe says to quarter the tomatoes.
Word forms
| plural | quarters |
|---|---|
| third person singular | quarters |
| past tense | quartered |
| past participle | quartered |
| -ing form | quartering |
Common combinations
- a quarter of
- A quarter of the cake was left.
- first quarter
- The company's profits increased in the first quarter.
- quarter past
- It's quarter past three.
- quarter to
- We'll meet at quarter to seven.
- living quarters
- The soldiers returned to their living quarters.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fourth
- Use 'fourth' when focusing on the fraction as one of four equal parts, especially in math; 'quarter' is more common in everyday speech for time, money, and parts of objects.
- district
- Use 'district' for an official area of a city or country; 'quarter' often suggests a historic or distinctive part of a town.
- area
- Use 'area' for any part of a place; 'quarter' is more specific and often used in names like 'the French Quarter'.
Word family
- quarterly adjective
- Happening or produced four times a year, or once every three months.
- quarterback noun
- A player in American football who leads the team's attack.
- quart noun
- A unit of liquid measure equal to a quarter of a gallon.
Commonly confused: quarter or quart?
quarter vs quart
A quart is a unit of liquid volume (about 0.95 liters), while a quarter is one fourth of something or a 25-cent coin.
Practice
Complete the sentence: 'The company's profits rose in the _____ quarter of the year.'
Choose one answer.
'First' fits because we say 'the first quarter' to mean the first three-month period. 'One' is wrong because we use ordinal numbers (first, second) with 'quarter' in this sense. 'Quarter' would repeat the word, and 'four' would mean the fourth quarter, which is not the same as the first.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “quarter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.