What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Rate vs Quantity - What's the difference?

rate | quantity |

As nouns the difference between rate and quantity

is that rate is the estimated worth of something; value while quantity is a fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating the value of a collection or group of items.

As a verb rate

is to assign or be assigned a particular rank or level.

rate

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from . (wikipedia rate)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) The estimated worth of something; value.
  • * 1599 , William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet , V.3:
  • There shall no figure at such rate be set, / As that of true and faithfull Iuliet.
  • The proportional relationship between one amount, value etc. and another.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
  • , date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.}}
  • Speed.
  • * Clarendon
  • Many of the horse could not march at that rate , nor come up soon enough.
  • The relative speed of change or progress.
  • The price of (an individual) thing; cost.
  • A set price or charge for all examples of a given case, commodity, service etc.
  • A wage calculated in relation to a unit of time.
  • Any of various taxes, especially those levied by a local authority.
  • (nautical) A class into which ships were assigned based on condition, size etc.; by extension, rank.
  • (obsolete) Established portion or measure; fixed allowance; ration.
  • * Spenser
  • The one right feeble through the evil rate / Of food which in her duress she had found.
  • (obsolete) Order; arrangement.
  • * Spenser
  • Thus sat they all around in seemly rate .
  • (obsolete) Ratification; approval.
  • (Chapman)
  • (horology) The gain or loss of a timepiece in a unit of time.
  • daily rate'''; hourly '''rate ; etc.
    Derived terms
    * at any rate * exchange rate * flat rate * interest rate * mortality rate * failure rate * rate limiting

    Verb

    (rat)
  • To assign or be assigned a particular rank or level.
  • She is rated fourth in the country.
  • To evaluate or estimate the value of.
  • They rate his talents highly.
  • * South
  • To rate a man by the nature of his companions is a rule frequent indeed, but not infallible.
  • To consider or regard.
  • He rated this book brilliant.
  • To deserve; to be worth.
  • The view here hardly rates a mention in the travel guide.
  • * 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, page 101:
  • Only two assistant district attorneys rate corner offices, and Mandelbaum wasn't one of them.
  • To determine the limits of safe functioning for a machine or electrical device.
  • The transformer is rated at 10 watts.
  • (transitive, chiefly, British) To evaluate a property's value for the purposes of local taxation.
  • (informal) To like; to think highly of.
  • The customers don't rate the new burgers.
  • To have position (in a certain class).
  • She rates among the most excellent chefs in the world.
    He rates as the best cyclist in the country.
  • To have value or standing.
  • This last performance of hers didn't rate very high with the judges.
  • To ratify.
  • * Chapman
  • to rate the truce
  • To ascertain the exact rate of the gain or loss of (a chronometer) as compared with true time.
  • Synonyms
    * (have position in a certain class) rank

    Derived terms

    * rating

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (rat)
  • To berate, scold.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Go, rate thy minions, proud, insulting boy!
  • * Barrow
  • Conscience is a check to beginners in sin, reclaiming them from it, and rating them for it.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , John IX:
  • Then rated they hym, and sayde: Thou arte hys disciple.
  • * , I.56:
  • Andronicus'' the Emperour, finding by chance in his pallace certaine principall men very earnestly disputing against ''Lapodius about one of our points of great importance, taunted and rated them very bitterly, and threatened if they gave not over, he would cause them to be cast into the river.
  • * 1825 , Sir (Walter Scott), , ch.iv:
  • He beheld him, his head still muffled in the veila man borne down and crushed to the earth by the burden of his inward feelings.
  • * 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch.XV, ''Practical — Devotional
  • The successful monk, on the morrow morning, hastens home to . The successful monk, arriving at Ely, is rated for a goose and an owl; is ordered back to say that (Elmset) was the place meant.

    Anagrams

    *

    quantity

    Noun

    (quantities)
  • A fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating the value of a collection or group of items.
  • You have to choose between quantity and quality.
  • An indefinite amount of something.
  • Some soap making oils are best as base oils, used in a larger quantity''' in the soap, while other oils are best added in a small '''quantity .
    Olive oil can be used practically in any quantity .
  • A specific measured amount.
  • This bag would normally costs $497.50 for a quantity of 250, at a price of $1.99 per piece.
    Generally it should not be used in a quantity larger than 15 percent.
  • A considerable measure or amount.
  • The Boeing P-26A was the first all-metal monoplane fighter produced in quantity for the U.S. Army Air Corps.
  • (metrology) Property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property has a magnitude that can be expressed as number and a reference.
  • (mathematics) Indicates that the entire preceding expression is henceforth considered a single object.
  • x plus ''y'' quantity squared equals ''x'' squared plus ''2xy'' plus ''y'' squared .
  • * 2006 , Jerome E. Kaufmann and Karen Schwitters, Elementary and Intermediate Algebra: A Combined Approach , p 89
  • For problems 58-67, translate each word phrase into an algebraic expression.
    (...)
    65. x plus 9, the quantity squared
  • * 2005 , R. Mark Sirkin, Statistics For The Social Sciences , p137
  • The second, (\sum x)^2, read "summation of x, quantity squared," tells us to first add up all the xs to get \sum x and then square \sum x to get (\sum x)^2.
  • * 1985 , Serge Lang, Math!: Encounters with High School Students , p54
  • ANN. ra quantity cubed.
    SERGE LANG. That's right, (ra)^3.

    Usage notes

    * In mathematics, used to unambiguously orate mathematical equations; it is extremely rare in print, since there is no need for it there.

    Synonyms

    * Qty

    See also

    * measure * unit