Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently, especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation.
- noun This amount of energy regarded as a unit.
- noun A quantity or amount.
- noun A specified portion.
- noun Something that can be counted or measured.
- noun A unit of acetylcholine, released at the synaptic cleft of a neuromuscular junction.
- adjective Relating to or based upon quantum theory.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun That which has quantity; a concrete quantity.
- noun A prescribed, proper, or sufficient amount.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Quantity; amount.
- noun (Math.) A definite portion of a manifoldness, limited by a mark or by a boundary.
- noun (Law) a count in an action grounded on a promise that the defendant would pay to the plaintiff for his service as much as he should deserve.
- noun (Med.) a sufficient quantity; -- abbreviated
q. s. in pharmacy. - noun (Law) a count in an action to recover of the defendant, for goods sold, as much as they were worth.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of a change,
sudden ordiscrete , without intermediate stages. - adjective informal Of a change,
significant . - adjective physics Involving
quanta - adjective computing theory Relating to a
quantum computer
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a discrete amount of something that is analogous to the quantities in quantum theory
- noun (physics) the smallest discrete quantity of some physical property that a system can possess (according to quantum theory)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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~ Hidden order found in a quantum spin liquid -- An international team, including scientists from the London Centre for Nanotechnology, has detected a hidden magnetic quantum order that extends over chains of 100 atoms in a ceramic without classical magnetism.
Speedlinking 7/26/07 William Harryman 2007
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The word quantum is thrown around a lot these days in media like in the film What the Bleep Do We Know?
God is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu … Carlton Pearson 2010
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The word quantum is thrown around a lot these days in media like in the film What the Bleep Do We Know?
God is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu … Carlton Pearson 2010
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The word quantum is thrown around a lot these days in media like in the film What the Bleep Do We Know?
God is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu … Carlton Pearson 2010
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The word quantum is thrown around a lot these days in media like in the film What the Bleep Do We Know?
God is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu … Carlton Pearson 2010
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In 1902, two years after the physicist Max Planck first coined the term quantum to describe the core reality of light, a young British writer named James Allen penned a little book entitled As a Man Thinketh, which drew its title and its message from the biblical verse “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The Answer John Assaraf 2008
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In 1902, two years after the physicist Max Planck first coined the term quantum to describe the core reality of light, a young British writer named James Allen penned a little book entitled As a Man Thinketh, which drew its title and its message from the biblical verse “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The Answer John Assaraf 2008
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While the word quantum is now used as an exotic adjective to augment the sales of everything from diets to fishing tackle, the connection proposed here is not trivial.
ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006
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While the word quantum is now used as an exotic adjective to augment the sales of everything from diets to fishing tackle, the connection proposed here is not trivial.
ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006
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While the word quantum is now used as an exotic adjective to augment the sales of everything from diets to fishing tackle, the connection proposed here is not trivial.
ENTANGLED MINDS DEAN RADIN 2006
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Despite being called Advantage, D-Wave’s device doesn’t achieve quantum advantage, a technical benchmark for quantum computers that would mark a major breakthrough.
D-Wave claims it has the world's most powerful quantum computer #author.fullName} 2020
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What Keene is referring to is the increasing practice of tribal nations to move away from blood quantum, where a potential tribal member must show a defined fraction of Indian blood, toward what’s known as descendancy enrollment.
Actual Native Americans Have More to Worry About Than Warren's DNA Debra Utacia Krol 2018
williamitchell commented on the word quantum
quantum (n):the minimum amount a system can change; e.g., a photon is the minimum amount in electrodynamics;
December 21, 2008
tmartin commented on the word quantum
That is the perfect definition of quantum, William. Thank you for your wonderful contribution!
December 21, 2008
rolig commented on the word quantum
So wouldn't this mean that a "quantum leap" was minimal change, and not the huge change we usually want this phrase to mean?
December 21, 2008
sionnach commented on the word quantum
rolig: that's exactly right. A point at the center of my slightly over-the-top review here:
Review of "Why Things Fail"
The relevant point is in the material pertaining to chapter 5, if you make it that far. The author had some point to make about how people misuse the term "quantum change", but his discussion just added to the confusion.
I think that it is what the inestimable Bryan Garner would refer to as a "skunked term" - one which carries with it an inescapable aura of confusion (when used in anything other than its narrow, specialized sense)
December 21, 2008
frindley commented on the word quantum
Alas yes. Rather like decimate, quantum and "quantum leap/change" can't really be used precisely in everyday language. Best to leave it to the scientists, and confine it to the bin of corporate weasel words elsewhere
December 21, 2008
mollusque commented on the word quantum
The problem with "quantum leap" is not that people misunderstand it, but that it's a cliche.
A common example of a quantum leap is an electron changing orbital levels around an atom. The change results in different chemical properties of the atom, so a quantum leap is small but significant. "Quantum leap" as opposed to "quantum step" can also imply that the electron has by-passed a couple of orbital levels.
I think it's a valid analogy to speak of a quantum leap in understanding. It means that someone has reached a new level, that things have gelled. One might have little new knowledge, but suddenly see how to apply their knowledge.
December 21, 2008
rolig commented on the word quantum
Thanks for the explanation, all! I suspect people will keep on using "quantum leap" to mean a significant, world-altering change, and physicists will keep arguing over whether such popular use is valid. Unfortunately, people like cliches, and more to the point, we love cliches that make us sound smart.
December 22, 2008
eabrown commented on the word quantum
I'm not so sure that 'quantum leap' is obviously misused. The word 'quantum' can be used of any measurable quantity--and this use far predates the physicists' adoption of the word for the smallest measurable quantity--and by this use, to call something a quantum x is like calling it a sizable x. Interestingly, we also typically hear 'ABC is a sizable x' to mean that ABC is a large x. Perhaps something like this explains how the phrase 'quantum leap' came to mean what it evidently does mean, despite the technical meaning of 'quantum' in physics.
November 26, 2009