Word.ws English Dictionary

quantum

UK/ˈkwɒntəm//ˈkwɑntəm/

quantum noun: the total amount of something; quantity. Also the ellipsis of quantum computing.

Noun

quantum (countable and uncountable, plural quantums or quanta)

  1. (South-Asia) The total amount of something; quantity.
    • The reader will perhaps be curious to know the quantum of this present, but we cannot satisfy his curiosity.1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 416
    • A certain quantum of power must always exist in the community, in some hands, and under some appellation.1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009, page 142
    1. (South-Asia) The amount of compensation awarded to a successful party in a lawsuit.
    2. (South-Asia) The length or magnitude of the sentence handed down to someone who has been found guilty of a crime.
  2. The amount or quantity observably present, or available.
    • Each man has only a quantum of compassion, he argued, and mine is used up for the day.1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 96
    • 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.1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford, published 2008, page 34
  3. The smallest possible, and therefore indivisible, unit of a given quantity or quantifiable phenomenon.
    • The quantum of light energy was later called a photon.2002, David C Cassidy et al., Understanding Physics, Birkhauser, page 602
  4. The amount of time allocated for a thread to perform its work in a multithreaded environment.
  5. The minimum dose of a pathogen required to cause an infection.
  6. Amount of goods produced or demanded.
  7. A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary.
    • Defined parts of a manifoldness are called Quanta1882, William Kingdon Clifford, Mathematical Papers

Adjective

quantum (not comparable)

  1. Of a change, sudden or discrete, without intermediate stages.
  2. (informal) Of a change, significant.
  3. Involving quanta, quantum mechanics or other aspects of quantum physics.
    • 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...2012 January, Michael Riordan, “Tackling Infinity”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2017, page 86
    Antonyms:
    classical
    1. Relating to a quantum computer.

Also used as

quantum is also the ellipsis of quantum computing.

quantum meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

quantum in Hindi

क्वांटम, क्वांटनम

quantum in Tamil

குவாண்டம், குவான்டம்

quantum in Marathi

क्वांटम, क्वॉन्टम

quantum in Urdu

کوانٹم, کوانٹام
More languagesFewer languages
quantum in Bengali
কোয়ান্টাম, কোয়াণ্টাম, ক্঵ান্টাম
quantum in Telugu
క్వాంటం, క్వాంటమ్
quantum in Malayalam
ക്വാണ്ടം, ക്വാൻ്റം
quantum in Kannada
ಕ್ವಾಂಟಮ್, ಕ್ವಾಂಟಂ
quantum in Punjabi
ਕੁਆਂਟਮ
quantum in Gujarati
ક્વોન્ટમ, ક્વૉન્ટમ, ક્વાન્ટમ
quantum in Odia
କ୍ୱାଣ୍ଟମ୍, କ୍ୱାଣ୍ଟମ, କ୍ୱାଣ୍ଟାମ
quantum in Nepali
क्वान्टम, क्वाण्टम, क्वांटम
quantum in Tagalog
damo
quantum in Arabic
كَمّ kamm
quantum in Malay
kuantiti, kuantum
quantum in Indonesian
kuantitas, kuantum
quantum in Persian
کوانتم
quantum in Thai
จำนวน jam-nuuan, ควอนตัม kwaawndtam
quantum in Vietnamese
số lượng, lượng, khối lượng, lượng tử

Examples of quantum in a sentence

  • 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.1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 375:
  • 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.2008 May 21, The Times of India:

All 40 example sentences with quantum

Antonyms of quantum

Forms of quantum

pluralquantums
pluralquanta

Plural of quantum: quantums or quanta

Origin of quantum

From Late Latin quantum, noun use of neuter form of Latin quantus (“how much”).

Words formed from quantum

Phrases with quantum

101 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about quantum

What does quantum mean?
Quantum means the total amount of something; quantity.
What is quantum in Hindi?
Quantum in Hindi is क्वांटम, क्वांटनम. See Quantum meaning in Hindi.
How do you use quantum in a sentence?
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.
What part of speech is quantum?
Quantum can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce quantum?
Quantum is pronounced /ˈkwɒntəm/ (UK).
What is the plural of quantum?
The plural of quantum is quantums.

Words near quantum in the dictionary

  1. Quantrill
  2. quantronium
  3. quantroniums
  4. quants
  5. quantulum
  6. quantum
  7. quantum acoustics
  8. quantum advantage
  9. quantum advantages
  10. quantum anomalies
  11. quantum anomaly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quantum (page history and authors); quantum (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); quantum (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-US quantum (enunciated).ogg.

Cite this entry: “quantum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quantum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.