Origin: Latin suffix -ive
Quantitative has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
expressible as a quantity or relating to or susceptible of measurement
"export wheat without quantitative limitations"
"quantitative analysis determines the amounts and proportions of the chemical constituents of a substance or mixture"
(of verse) having a metric system based on relative duration of syllables
"in typical Greek and Latin verse of the classical period the rhymic system is based on some arrangement of long and short elements"
Of a measurement based on some quantity or number rather than on some quality
"The scientist decided to focus on quantitative data, analyzing exact measurements of temperature instead of qualitative observations about how hot the water felt."
In plain English: Quantitative means describing something by using numbers and measurements instead of just opinions or feelings.
"The survey included both qualitative interviews and quantitative data collected from online forms."
Usage: Use quantitative to describe data that can be measured and expressed as numbers, such as sales figures or test scores. This contrasts with qualitative information, which deals with non-numerical qualities like opinions or descriptions.
The word quantitative comes from Late Latin quantitativus, which was formed by combining the root meaning of amount with a suffix indicating quality or nature. It entered English through this direct lineage to describe something related to measurable quantities rather than just general amounts.