quantum — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The total amount of something; quantity.

   Usage

   • South-Asia
   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   The reader will perhaps be curious to know the quantum of this present, but we cannot satisfy his curiosity.

   A certain quantum of power must always exist in the community, in some hands, and under some appellation.

   More examples (2)

   Otherwise I will have given the lie to my maxim that whether you work eight or twenty hours, the quantum of work that gets done on a normal day is the same.

   The Congress's core ministerial panel on Friday gave its green signal to raising motor fuel prices but the quantum of increase emerged as a hitch.

2. The total amount of something; quantity. The amount of compensation awarded to a successful party in a lawsuit.

   Usage

   • South-Asia
   • Countable
   • Uncountable

3. The total amount of something; quantity. The length or magnitude of the sentence handed down to someone who has been found guilty of a crime.

   Usage

   • South-Asia
   • Countable
   • Uncountable

4. The amount or quantity observably present, or available.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Each man has only a quantum of compassion, he argued, and mine is used up for the day.

   More examples (1)

   The dream of flying, according to Strümpell, is the appropriate image used by the psyche to interpret the quantum of stimulus [translating Reizquantum] proceeding from the rise and fall of the lungs when the cutaneous sensation of the thorax has simultaneously sunk into unconsciousness.

5. The smallest possible, and therefore indivisible, unit of a given quantity or quantifiable phenomenon.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   The quantum of light energy was later called a photon.

6. The amount of time allocated for a thread to perform its work in a multithreaded environment.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

7. The minimum dose of a pathogen required to cause an infection.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

8. Amount of goods produced or demanded.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

9. A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Defined parts of a manifoldness are called Quanta

Adjective

1. Of a change, sudden or discrete, without intermediate stages.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

2. Of a change, significant.

   Usage

   • Informal
   • not-comparable

3. Involving quanta, quantum mechanics or other aspects of quantum physics.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Antonyms

   classical

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.

4. Involving quanta, quantum mechanics or other aspects of quantum physics. Relating to a quantum computer.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

Noun

1. a discrete amount of something that is analogous to the quantities in quantum theory

   Broader terms

   quantity

2. (physics) the smallest discrete quantity of some physical property that a system can possess (according to quantum theory)

   Broader terms

   measurequantityamount