Dictionary meaning for the word quantitative?
quantitative, a. and n.
(ˈkwɒntɪtətɪv)
[ad. med.L. quantitātīvus: see quantity and -ive. Cf. F.
quantitatif (1586 in Godef. Compl.).]
A. adj.
1. Possessing quantity, magnitude, or spatial extent. Now
rare.
1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 40 [Angels occupy] no bodilie place,
no severall nor quantitative place. 1634 Jackson Creed vii. xxvi.
§5 The world in the original doth not signify this visible or
quantitative world. 1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 22 The Body,
only which (and not the Soul) is Quantitative. 1847 Lewes Hist.
Philos. (1867) II. 481 The fact that we discover quantitative space
and time.
2. That is, or may be, considered with respect to the quantity
or quantities involved; estimated or estimable by quantity.
1656 Artif. Handsom. 44 This Quantitative Adultery, which‥makes
far more grosse alterations, & substantiall changes of nature.
1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 221 The colour of mens eyes is various,
nor is there less diversity in their quantitative proportions. 1842
Grove Corr. Phys. For. (ed. 6) 142 An invariable quantitative
relation to each other. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 160 Not as its
quantitative equal‥but as a moral equivalent. 1879 Farrar St. Paul
(1883) 43 The enormous error that man‥can win by quantitative
goodness his entrance into the Kingdom of God.
3. a. Relating to, concerned with, quantity or its measurement;
ascertaining or expressing quantity.
1668 Wilkins Real Char. iii. vii. 325 Relative and Quantitative
Pronouns. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. 123 It is a character of
all the higher laws of nature to assume the form of precise
quantitative statement. 1882 Farrar Early Chr. I. 125 The
quantitative conceptions of Jewish formalism.
b. Chem. quantitative analysis, measurement of the amounts of
constituents present in a substance. Cf. qualitative analysis.
1849 D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. Pref. 4 Tables for assisting in
the calculations of quantitative analysis. 1913 Cumming & Kay
Quantitative Chem. Analysis 109 One of the most difficult problems
met with in quantitative analysis is the selection of good methods
of separation. 1961 D. & B. A. Ambrose Gas Chromatogr. x. 161
With the integral detectors described‥quantitative analysis is
simple: the detector response is directly proportional to the mass
of material, and the step height permits the analysis to be
calculated in accordance with the property being determined (e.g.
titre or volume).
4. Pertaining to, based on, vowel-quantity.
1799 Monthly Rev. XXIX. 49 The quantitative accent, as it may be
called, follows the analogy of the Latin. 1871 Lowell Study Wind.
(1886) 241 The best quantitative verses in our language are to be
found in Mother Goose. 1933 C. D. Buck Compar. Gram. Greek &
Latin 93 Long vowels are shortened before other vowels in various
dialects.‥ When the second vowel is short it may be lengthened,
resulting in what is known as 'quantitative metathesis'.‥ Homer
often shows the older forms‥, but also in many cases the shortening
and quantitative metathesis. 1973 A. H. Sommerstein Sound Pattern
Anc. Greek ii. 69 Quantitative Metathesis. The need for this rule
arises chiefly from the vocalism and accentuation of certain
third-declension genitive case forms. 1978 Language LIV. 441 Thus
the order of the rules required by this analysis is Pre-German
Accentuation followed by Quantitative Ablaut followed by Germanic
Accentuation.
5. Chem. Of a procedure or a reaction: acting on the whole
quantity of a particular substance or species; having an efficiency
or a yield of 100 per cent. Hence also used of the yield or product
of such a process.
1905 Proc. R. Soc. A. LXXVI. 116 Its [sc. a possible new
element] quantitative extraction from thorium salts has not yet
been investigated. 1907 Chem. Abstr. I. 1539 The yield is almost
quantitative and the product very pure. 1923 [see qualitative a.
b]. 1930 W. T. Hall Textbk. Quantitative Analysis xi. 140 For
practical purposes, a reaction is complete or quantitative, as we
often say, when less than 0·1 mg. remains in solution. 1962 Cotton
& Wilkinson Adv. Inorg. Chem. x. 194 Diborane‥is obtained in
essentially quantitative yields by reaction of metal hydrides with
boron trifluoride. 1964 N. G. Clark Mod. Org. Chem. xi. 204 On
careful combustion there remains a quantitative residue of metallic
silver.
B. n. †a. A sign that indicates quantity. Obs. b. That which
possesses or involves quantity.
1668 Wilkins Real Char. iii. ii. 305 Of all which [pronouns] it
is to be observed, that they are in some kind or other,
Quantitatives. 1846 Sabine tr. Humboldt's Cosmos (1847) I. 179 An
effort‥to investigate the quantitative in the laws of one of the
great phænomena of nature.
c. = quantifier 1 b.
1924 H. E. Palmer Gram. Spoken Eng. 45 Quantitatives and
Numericals (mʌtʃ), (meni), (faiv)‥, etc.
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