Quiet or quite?

Quiet/kwaɪət/ and quite/kwaɪt/ are spelt and pronounced differently, and have different meanings.

Quiet is an adjective meaning ‘making very little noise’ or ‘having little activity or excitement’:

The children are very quiet. I wonder what they’re doing? Shall I go and see?

It’s a very quiet, peaceful village and we love living there.

Quite is an adverb which usually means ‘a little or a lot, but not completely’:

I’ve been quite busy this week. I hope things are not so busy next week.

See also:

Adjective phrases

Adjectives

Quite

• haricot-bean
• haricot vert
• haricot-vert
• haring
• harings
• harissa
• harissas
• hark
• hark at !
• hark-at
• hark at sb!
• hark at someone!
• hark back
• hark-back
• hark back to
• hark-back-to
• hark back to something
• hark back to sth
• harked
• harken
• harkened
• harkening
• harkens
• harking
• harks