quite a
∞
3.2
- idiom
- /kwaɪt ə/
:
todo un
- You have quite a colorful past, Kelly.
- quite a bit
- quite a few
- quite a lot
And that's, you know, quite, quite a claim being made there.
- And that's, you know, quite, quite a claim being made there.
- I'm the eldest of three brothers, quite a close knit family.
- And, and it was actually quite a remarkable experience.
- All right, It's, it was quite a stressful morning, I would say.
- No, I think I'm sort of quite a confident person myself.
- So that's the Rivian and that's been quite a week, quite a week.
- Now, we're trying to conduct this dig in a quite a quiet, calm fashion.
- That's how my life has become quite a global existence.
Examples
-
Yes, I have read quite a few in my time, sir.
-
Ooh, this is quite a place.
-
That was quite a fire.
-
I have spent quite a lot of money on her.
-
It's quite an honor having you here.
-
It's quite a humbling experience.
-
Well, now, it was quite a storm, though, Taff.
-
You really gave Deluca quite a scare.
-
The influx of disruptive behaviors is causing quite a stir throughout classrooms in America.
Academic text (2011) -
This cake is quite a masterpiece of culinary art.
Synonyms
105
3.5
To show that something is very surprising or impressive
77
8.1
Very impressive or very difficult
Very impressive in a way that surprises people
Antonyms
How Remarkable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the degree adverb 'quite' with the indefinite article 'a' to form an intensifying, compositional pattern (e.g. 'quite a surprise' = 'a rather/very surprising event'). This semantic contribution is predictable from the constituents and common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the words would readily infer the meaning (note: 'a' in this MWE functions as an article rather than the noun form given).
Etymology
The phrase quite a comes from the word quite, which long ago meant 'completely'. People put quite a before a noun to make it sound stronger, so 'quite a musician' meant a very impressive musician. So today quite a still shows something is unusually noticeable or 'remarkable'.