Talk:quite
Am I missing something? How is this an adjective? "He's a quite man." "I feel quite today."DAVilla16:00, 6 November 2006 (UTC)Reply
- It is just an adverb. Fixed.SemperBlotto16:05, 6 November 2006 (UTC)Reply
I think we are missing one of the meanings of "quite".Can't it mean "distictly", "markedly", "a significant amount"? As in "I see quite a differece." " I lost quite a few.", "That is quite different.""That is quite another matter". Indeed the usage of "quite" in most (all?) the "derived terms" seems to be of this kind. JustPassing 21:46, 28 March 2009
- We have that: "To a great extent or degree; very; very much; considerably."Equinox◑22:01, 28 March 2009 (UTC)Reply
Interjection?
editSurely that's just the adverb.
Deletion debate
edit
The following information has failedWiktionary's deletion process.
It should not be re-entered without careful consideration.
This is not an interjection; it is an adverb. As with many words of many parts of speech it can constitute a prosentence, with numerous possible meanings depending on context, tone of voice, etc. Calling this an interjection distorts and debases the meaning of bothinterjection andpart of speech, rendering both terms less useful for Wiktionary.DCDuringTALK14:52, 27 October 2010 (UTC)Reply
- Quite.—msh210℠ (talk)15:37, 27 October 2010 (UTC)Reply
- Keep the section now marked as "interjection", with the part of speech "phrase" or the like. Similar entries:absolutely,exactly,right; less similar entries:I think so,I don't think so. The point is to document the pro-sentence meaning, attested by quotations. I agree that tagging this as "interjection" is an overload of the term "interjection", one that dilutes the category for interjections. --Dan Polansky08:42, 1 November 2010 (UTC)Reply
- Would you also keep a sense ofme defined as "it's I that's here:used when responding to "who is it?" after knocking on a door", since it's a prosentence? Things don't deserve entries as prosentences merely by virtue of their being prosentences (and thus inherently non-SOP): they have to have meaning other than that implied by their parts in context.Quite means "I agree" in context because it means "exactly" as an adverb, not because that's some new meaning.Me means "it's I that's here" in context because it means "I" as a pronoun, not as some new meaning.—msh210℠ (talk)17:05, 2 November 2010 (UTC)Reply
- I probably would not keepme. The use ofquite to meanI agree is peculiar to English as compared to Czech. The possibility of this use does not follow from the adverb definitions. The adverb definition that would be taken for the pro-sentence use would possibly be "To a great extent or degree; very; very much; considerably" (would it?), but you cannot use "considerably" as a pro-sentential "I agree", right? Neither can you use "rather" in this way, right? I agree that not every pro-sentential use should get an entry, or else most nouns would have pro-sentential entries, in Czech anyway. Only those pro-sentential uses should get an entry that are in some way unpredictable or peculiar to the language in question. --Dan Polansky17:44, 2 November 2010 (UTC)Reply
- The relevant sense is "exactly", which I think is supposed to fall under our first sense, "(manner)Completely;wholly;entirely;perfectly", but TBH I don't think that sense is very clearly expressed. —RuakhTALK19:13, 3 November 2010 (UTC)Reply
- I probably would not keepme. The use ofquite to meanI agree is peculiar to English as compared to Czech. The possibility of this use does not follow from the adverb definitions. The adverb definition that would be taken for the pro-sentence use would possibly be "To a great extent or degree; very; very much; considerably" (would it?), but you cannot use "considerably" as a pro-sentential "I agree", right? Neither can you use "rather" in this way, right? I agree that not every pro-sentential use should get an entry, or else most nouns would have pro-sentential entries, in Czech anyway. Only those pro-sentential uses should get an entry that are in some way unpredictable or peculiar to the language in question. --Dan Polansky17:44, 2 November 2010 (UTC)Reply
- Would you also keep a sense ofme defined as "it's I that's here:used when responding to "who is it?" after knocking on a door", since it's a prosentence? Things don't deserve entries as prosentences merely by virtue of their being prosentences (and thus inherently non-SOP): they have to have meaning other than that implied by their parts in context.Quite means "I agree" in context because it means "exactly" as an adverb, not because that's some new meaning.Me means "it's I that's here" in context because it means "I" as a pronoun, not as some new meaning.—msh210℠ (talk)17:05, 2 November 2010 (UTC)Reply
Sense removed.—msh210℠ (talk)19:53, 2 December 2010 (UTC)Reply
Is there not a distinction between American and British usages, where Americans use it strictly synonymously with "very (much)", but British may mean either that,or, the very different "slightly", or "almost"? E.g. to an American ear, "Iquite like him" strictly means "I like him very much", but a British speaker could intend "I like him only very little".— This comment wasunsigned.
- Why not take a crack at it?DCDuringTALK16:13, 14 January 2012 (UTC)Reply
I was also surprised that there was no mention of this difference. It can lead to real misunderstandings in my experience : how's you meal? quite good. To a British English speker that is very moderated approval.PhilomenaO'M (talk)08:02, 31 August 2014 (UTC)Reply
I know a British dancer who reported having this miscommunication with his American partner. I'm going to add a note.DAVilla18:52, 18 October 2021 (UTC)Reply
Could a note be added about how, for example, slightly different construction with "few" results in markedly different meaning: "quite few" (a very small number) vs. "quiteafew", (MANY)?— This comment wasunsigned.
Users might struggle here.Equinox◑21:16, 4 April 2017 (UTC)Reply
- Yeah, and the "definitions" are descriptions ofwhere it's used, rather than definitions of what it means! I suggest moving them, quotations and all (since it does seem like it might be useful to retain the current sorting of the quotations), into Usage notes.- -sche(discuss)05:40, 5 April 2017 (UTC)Reply
Regarding the sentence "Used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified", a couple of examples should be added to exemplify both modification and qualification. --Backinstadiums (talk)14:50, 16 May 2018 (UTC)Reply
Just likequite a few,quite a while,quite a little ( ⇒ a considerable amount), or rather a genericquite a --Backinstadiums (talk)10:29, 24 June 2020 (UTC)Reply
AmE differs somewhat from BrE in the placement of the indefinite article withquite. Although Americans and Britons alike sayquite a long time, Britons also sometimes saya quite long time.
Indeed; I completely agree. Primarily heard in UK. --Backinstadiums (talk)11:53, 1 March 2021 (UTC)Reply
1. (not used with a negative) to a noticeable or partial extent; somewhat:she'squite pretty 2. (not used with a negative)quite a ⇒ of an exceptional, considerable, or noticeable kind:quite a girl, quite a long walk 3.Completely, wholly, or entirely:not quite finished.
Don't use ‘quite’ in front of comparative adjectives/adverbs,*‘The train is quite quicker than the bus’. Instead you usea bit/little, orslightly.https://www.wordreference.com/EnglishUsage/quite --Backinstadiums (talk)17:37, 3 September 2021 (UTC)Reply
- Or quite a bit quickerJustin the Just (talk)08:38, 8 July 2024 (UTC)Reply
In North American Englishquite usually means something like ‘very’, not ‘fairly’ or ‘rather’.Pretty is used instead for this sense.JMGN (talk)18:38, 7 July 2024 (UTC)Reply
Two distinct meanings,completely as in "You're quite right" andto some extent as in "He's quite clever". Although both senses are pronounced the same at the segmental level, they are consistently differentiated by intonation, the first occurring in phrases with afalling tone and the second with afall-rise.JMGN (talk)23:13, 17 October 2024 (UTC)Reply
Quite is not used directly before comparatives. However,quite similar means ‘fairly/rather similar', butquite different means ‘completely different'.JMGN (talk)12:00, 30 March 2025 (UTC)Reply
- According to Fowler,quite ‘very, really’ is standard in AmE.JMGN (talk)22:30, 16 April 2025 (UTC)Reply
With non-gradable adjectives, quite normally comes aftera(n) in BrE:It was aquite perfect Saturday evening.JMGN (talk)12:10, 30 March 2025 (UTC)Reply
According to Fowler,
In speech, intonation clarifies the difference betweenˈquite nice (= reasonably) andquiteˈnice (= very).JMGN (talk)22:27, 16 April 2025 (UTC)Reply