Talk:quite

Latest comment: 11 months ago by Wonderfool April 2023 in topic quite so

Adjective edit

Am I missing something? How is this an adjective? "He's a quite man." "I feel quite today." DAVilla 16:00, 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? edit

Surely that's just the adverb.

Deletion debate edit

 

The following information has failed Wiktionary's deletion process.

It should not be re-entered without careful consideration.


quite edit

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 both interjection and part of speech, rendering both terms less useful for Wiktionary. DCDuring TALK 14:52, 27 October 2010 (UTC)Reply

Quite.​—msh210 (talk) 15:37, 27 October 2010 (UTC)Reply
Delete. Mglovesfun (talk) 20:39, 28 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 Polansky 08:42, 1 November 2010 (UTC)Reply
Would you also keep a sense of me 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 keep me. The use of quite to mean I 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 Polansky 17:44, 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. —RuakhTALK 19:13, 3 November 2010 (UTC)Reply

Sense removed.​—msh210 (talk) 19:53, 2 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

American and British difference? edit

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, "I quite like him" strictly means "I like him very much", but a British speaker could intend "I like him only very little". — This comment was unsigned.

Why not take a crack at it? DCDuring TALK 16:13, 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. DAVilla 18:52, 18 October 2021 (UTC)Reply

Few edit

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. "quite a few", (MANY)? — This comment was unsigned.

Try it. DCDuring TALK 16:14, 14 January 2012 (UTC)Reply

This entry is incomprehensible unless you are a grammarian edit

Users might struggle here. Equinox 21:16, 4 April 2017 (UTC)Reply

Yeah, and the "definitions" are descriptions of where 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

Used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified. edit

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

quite a while ; quite a little edit

Just like quite a few, quite a while, quite a little ( ⇒ a considerable amount), or rather a generic quite a --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:29, 24 June 2020 (UTC)Reply

quite a lot too --Backinstadiums (talk) 21:05, 25 November 2020 (UTC)Reply

placement of the indefinite article edit

AmE differs somewhat from BrE in the placement of the indefinite article with quite. Although Americans and Britons alike say quite a long time, Britons also sometimes say a quite long time.

--Backinstadiums (talk) 18:13, 5 November 2020 (UTC)Reply

quite so edit

Indeed; I completely agree. Primarily heard in UK. --Backinstadiums (talk) 11:53, 1 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

I got it Wonderfool April 2023 (talk) 22:12, 24 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Not used with a negative ; not used with comparatives edit

1. (not used with a negative) to a noticeable or partial extent; somewhat: she's quite 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 use a bit/little, or slightly. https://www.wordreference.com/EnglishUsage/quite --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:37, 3 September 2021 (UTC)Reply

Return to "quite" page.