Quit Meaning
/kwɪt/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjReleased from obligation, penalty, etc; free, clear, or rid.
verbTo leave (a place).
Sentence Examples
The odds are against me, so I think I'll quit now.
Any doctor will tell you to quit smoking.
If I don't get more money I'll quit.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He decided to ____ his job because he found a better opportunity elsewhere.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She decided to ____ her job and travel the world after saving enough money over three years.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English quiten, quyten, from Anglo-Norman quitter, Old French quitter, from quitte (“acquitted, quit”), ultimately from Latin quietus, which itself derives from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyéh₁-ti-s, from *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Doublet of coy, quite, quiet, and quietus. Compare Dutch kwijten (“to quit”), German Low German quitten (“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren, Danish kvitte, Swedish qvitta, kvitta (“to quit, leave, set off”), Icelandic kvitta.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"With mounting anger the King denounced the pair, both father and son, and was about to condemn them to death when his strength gave out. Faint and trembling he was unable to walk and the sword fell from his hands as he murmured: 'May the Protector of the Buddhist Faith grant me but seven more days grace of life to be quit of this disloyal couple, father and son'."
— 1990, Claude de Bèze, translated by E. W. Hutchinson, 1688 revolution in Siam: the memoir of Father de Bèze, s.j, University Press, page 153:
"Jones had no sooner quitted the room, than the petty-fogger, in a whispering tone, asked Mrs Whitefield, “If she knew who that fine spark was?”"
— 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
"He quitted the lake on the 23rd of September, and on the 4th of October arrived at Queenstown, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, having succeded in finding a transitable route."
— 1865, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, page 33:
"... to cause the tenants to quit and give the plaintiff possession of the cottages, &c., ..."
— 1865, Great Britain. Courts, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the English Courts of Common Law: With Tables of the Cases and Principal Matters, page 635:
"The lions, if they left not the forest, would capture no prey; and the arrow, if it quitted not the bow, would not strike the mark."
— 1912, Edward Stanley Poole, transl., The Thousand and One Nights:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He decided to ____ his job because he found a better opportunity elsewhere.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She decided to ____ her job and travel the world after saving enough money over three years.