1. 1. A specified or indefinite number or amount.
   2. A considerable amount or number: sells drugs wholesale and in quantity.
   3. An exact amount or number.
2. The measurable, countable, or comparable property or aspect of a thing.
3. Mathematics. Something that serves as the object of an operation.
4. 1. Linguistics. The relative amount of time needed to pronounce a vowel, consonant, or syllable.
   2. The duration of a syllable in quantitative verse.
5. Logic. The exact character of a proposition in reference to its universality, singularity, or particularity.

[Middle English quantite, from Old French, from Latin quantitās, quantitāt-, from quantus, how great.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.