These words help you describe a degree: fairly easy, quite good, rather expensive or pretty fast. They are not exact replacements. Quite can also mean completely, and the word order changes when you add a noun.
A degree adverb tells you how strong a quality or action is. Put it before the adjective or adverb it describes.
An adjective describes something: clear instructions. An adverb can describe how something happens: the driver stopped suddenly. The degree word stays with the word it changes.
You may see the name mitigator for a word that makes a description less strong than very or extremely. This does not mean every use of quite is weak. Quite right, for example, means completely right.
Fairly can mean to a moderate degree, less than very. It does not mean almost none. A fairly clear explanation is clear to some degree, but it could be clearer.
With an adjective such as good, cold or busy, quite usually means fairly or moderately in the British usage described by Cambridge. Context and the way you say it matter.
Rather can have a similar degree meaning. Cambridge describes it as more formal than quite and notes that it can express something unexpected or surprising. It can go with something you dislike or something you like.
Do not learn a rule that quite means good and rather means bad. You can say quite unpleasant or rather pleasant. The whole description gives the evaluation.
These words are not points on one exact scale. Sources differ about their relative strength, and speakers use context and tone. If the exact size matters, add a number or another clear detail.
A gradable adjective can describe different degrees: warm, warmer, very warm. With this kind of meaning, quite can give the moderate description above.
With an extreme quality or a complete state, quite can mean very strongly, totally or completely. It does not weaken every adjective it comes before.
| Phrase | Meaning in this use |
|---|---|
| quite useful | useful to a moderate degree |
| quite right | completely right |
| quite impossible | completely impossible |
| quite amazing | strong emphasis, not a moderate description |
Cambridge notes that, in speaking, the strong use of quite receives as much stress as the adjective or adverb. Oxford also notes that quite good can be moderate or strongly positive depending on stress and tone. A written phrase alone does not always settle the strength.
There is a regional difference too. Oxford says that quite in North American English usually means something like very; Cambridge gives fairly or pretty as usual US choices for the weaker sense. This is a tendency, not a ban on either meaning in either variety.
See Gradable and non-gradable adjectives: choosing degree words for why adjective meanings and word partners matter more than putting each word permanently in one group.
With a singular count noun in the main pattern, quite goes before a or an. The adjective, if there is one, comes after the article.
The degree meaning is like quite steep or quite awkward; the noun changes the word order.
Quite can also emphasise a noun without an adjective. Then it can draw attention to something large, important or impressive, rather than meaning only moderately.
Quite a is the safe pattern to learn here, but do not call every a quite plus adjective phrase an error. British Council explicitly accepts a quite new flat. The choice can depend on the adjective and context.
With a plural noun or an uncountable noun, you do not add a or an just because you use quite before the adjective.
Quite some is another emphatic pattern: quite some distance means a considerable distance. It is not the same as simply adding quite before every bare noun.
With rather and an adjective before a singular count noun, both article positions are accepted.
Do not mark either order wrong.
With another word such as some or those before the noun, put that word before rather.
Rather a can also come before a noun without an adjective. Cambridge describes this as more formal, particularly in writing.
Fairly and pretty stay after a or an and before the adjective. Pretty is informal; fairly is suitable in a more formal description too.
| Degree word | With a singular count noun |
|---|---|
| fairly | a fairly quiet street |
| pretty | a pretty busy office |
| rather | a rather small garden / rather a small garden |
| quite | quite a difficult decision |
Quite a few means a fairly large number, not very few. Quite a bit and quite a lot refer to a fairly large amount. Rather a lot can also describe a large amount.
With a following noun, use quite a few plus a plural count noun, or quite a bit of / quite a lot of plus a suitable noun. See Much, many and a lot of: few, a few, little and a little and All and most: all the rooms, most of them, most people for the wider quantity patterns.
Quite a lot and rather a lot can also mean often when they describe how frequently something happens.
Before a comparative such as cheaper, do not simply use quite by itself in the ordinary comparison pattern. Use quite a bit or quite a lot. Rather can come directly before a comparative.
These describe the degree of the difference. Rather can also suggest that the difference is unexpected, but you need context to know that. Cambridge notes rather more and rather less in formal writing. See Modifying comparatives for other choices.
Quite can go with verbs such as like, enjoy, agree and understand, especially in informal speaking. Its strength depends on the verb and context. Put it before the main verb, after a modal verb or first auxiliary when there is one.
Rather can also go with verbs such as like, enjoy and hope. It is not limited to adjectives.
Not quite means not completely. It can describe something close to the intended result but not there yet. It does not mean not at all.
You can also use not quite as a short answer. If someone asks whether you have finished, Not quite says that you have not completely finished.
Not very is different: it limits the degree rather than saying a complete state has not been reached. Compare not very clear with not quite clear. The first says the clarity is low; the second says it is not completely clear.
Pretty before an adjective or adverb is an informal degree word. Cambridge defines it as quite, but not extremely. In a formal application or report, choose a suitable word such as fairly instead.
Pretty is also an adjective meaning attractive. The grammar of the whole phrase shows which use you mean.
Pretty well and pretty much can mean almost. This is different from well describing how successfully something happens.
For an ordinary negative description, use not very good or not so good rather than not pretty good. Do not turn this guidance into a claim that a speaker can never quote or deny a phrase containing pretty.
The degree word in rather cold is different from rather than, which compares alternatives, and would rather, which expresses a preference. See Prefer, would prefer and would rather for the full patterns.
Rather like can show similarity: a shape rather like a leaf is somewhat similar to a leaf. Or rather lets you correct or make your words more exact.
These uses do not mean that something has a moderate degree. They have their own job in the sentence.
✗There were quite a few empty seat.
✓There were quite a few empty seats.
A few takes a plural count noun, even when quite comes before it.
✗We received rather some strange messages.
✓We received some rather strange messages.
Some goes before rather in this noun phrase.
✗The new desk is quite lot wider.
✓The new desk is quite a lot wider.
Keep a in the phrase quite a lot before a comparative.
See Gradable and non-gradable adjectives: choosing degree words for adjective meanings and collocations, enough and too for sufficient and excessive degree, so and such for so and such, Modifying comparatives for comparisons and Prefer, would prefer and would rather for preferences.
Eight questions. Choose one answer for each.