The sociolinguist Peter Trudgill once had an American girlfriend. His father showed her his paintings, and she said she thought they were "quite nice." His father was not pleased.
To a British ear that was faint praise. She meant they were very nice. Trudgill told the story in a 2016 column for the Eastern Daily Press, and it is the whole problem in two words.
Short answer: in American English, quite good means good, often warmer than good. In British English it is mild praise, a notch below plain good. That is not folklore. YouGov asked people in both countries to score the phrase, and I'll show you the numbers.
Below: the ladder those numbers give you, with a US and a UK column; the one adjective test that tells you when quite means "completely" on both sides of the Atlantic; why pretty good is the safe word; what not bad really scores; and what to say back when a British client calls your report quite good.
What "quite good" means in British vs American English
Open the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at quite and the "to some degree" sense (synonyms: fairly, pretty) carries a label: British English. Its examples are quite good, quite small, I quite like opera. Now open Oxford's American dictionary at the same word. The "fairly" sense is not there. American quite gets "to a great degree; very; really" instead.
Cambridge draws the same line from the other side. Its entry for quite gives the moderate sense, "I'm quite tired but I can certainly walk a little further", and adds a note: US usually fairly, pretty. Americans usually reach for a different word when they mean "somewhat."
Same five words. An American is turning the adjective up; a Briton is turning it down.
Lynne Murphy is an American linguist who teaches at the University of Sussex, so she hears both versions every day. Her summary on Separated by a Common Language: that book was quite interesting is "probably enthusiastic praise in AmE, but probably a damp squib of praise in BrE." Note the probably. She is careful, and you should be too.
Why the split? Trudgill's column gives the history, citing the Oxford English Dictionary.
The older meaning of quite is "completely." The weaker "somewhat, fairly" sense arrived in the 19th century, in Britain only, and never really caught on in America. American English kept the strong word. British English grew a soft one beside it.
The ladder: how Americans and Britons scored quite good, pretty good and not bad
In 2018 YouGov ran the same survey in Great Britain and the United States. How positive does this word sound when you use it to describe something, from 0 (very negative) to 10 (very positive)? About one to two thousand people rated each phrase. The averages below are calculated from YouGov's published tables, so treat the decimals as approximate. The UK quite good figure comes from a second wave run a month after the first.
| Phrase | UK score | US score |
|---|---|---|
| not bad | 5.1 | 5.6 |
| OK | 5.5 | 5.8 |
| fine | 5.8 | 6.2 |
| quite good | 6.5 | 7.1 |
| pretty good | 6.8 | 6.9 |
| good | 6.9 | 7.1 |
| really good | 7.8 | 7.8 |
| great | 7.8 | 8.1 |
| excellent | 9.0 | 8.7 |
Read the UK column top to bottom and quite good lands under pretty good and under plain good. In the US column it sits level with good. That gap of about 0.6 points between countries is the biggest of any phrase in the middle of the table. Pretty good moves by about a tenth.
Two popular claims fall over here. Wiktionary's entry for quite good gives one British meaning, "excellent," with no citation. Simple English Videos jokes the opposite: "If my British boss says my work is quite good, I'd have to ask what I'm doing wrong." The survey says neither. A Briton who calls your work quite good is pleased, mildly. They'd like it a bit better.
The data also trims the American side. US quite good scores the same as good, not the same as really good (7.8). So "quite means very in America" is what the dictionaries say about the word, and it's a fair rule. Just don't expect a raise from it.
Does quite mean very, or a little? It depends on the next word
"She was quite right." Nobody on either side of the Atlantic hears that as "fairly right." With certain adjectives quite means "completely," in both countries, and the adjective decides.
Cambridge's grammar of quite splits adjectives into two kinds. Some come in amounts: good, tired, excited, interesting. You can be a little tired or very tired.
With those, British quite means "a little, moderately but not very." Others are already at the end of the scale: right, different, incredible, perfect. You can't be a little perfect. With those, quite means "totally or completely."
If the adjective can take 'a little', British quite weakens it. If it can't, quite means completely.
Not quite works the same way everywhere. "Are you ready?" "No, not quite." It means almost, not completely. That's also how English speakers disagree politely: I don't quite agree, that's not quite what I meant. Vicki Hollett and Jay, a British and American couple who run Simple English Videos, point out that this softening quite works identically in both varieties.
Where quite goes in the sentence
Put quite before a: It's quite a good book. Cambridge glosses that exact sentence as "rather good but not excellent." Oxford marks It's a quite small house as wrong. The one place the order splits is with end-of-scale adjectives, where Oxford gives British a quite inexcusable level against American quite an inexcusable level.
Tone matters too. Oxford's usage note says that with some adjectives both meanings are possible, and "the speaker's stress and intonation will show you which is meant." Your essay is quite good can mean "it could be better" or "very good, especially when this is unexpected." On paper you can't tell.
Pretty good means the same on both sides of the Atlantic
Pretty good scored about 6.8 in the UK and 6.9 in the US. Of the hedged phrases, it's the one that barely moves between countries, and that makes it the safest hedge for you to say.
Cambridge's grammar page on pretty defines it as "quite, but not extremely" (British quite, so: fairly), and adds that "pretty does not mean the same as very." So I'm pretty sure we've met before means fairly sure, not 100%. Oxford adds the idiom pretty much: almost. Pretty much everyone came means nearly everyone.
Oxford also lists a second sense where pretty means "very": That performance was pretty impressive. Context can push it up. On its own, pretty good is honest praise with a small hedge in it.
Cambridge gives two limits worth knowing. Pretty is informal, so it stays out of job applications. And it doesn't go in negative sentences: the restaurant wasn't very good, never wasn't pretty good.
In a cover letter, pretty sounds chatty. Fairly carries the same amount.
Where does rather fit? Oxford ranks the British trio: "Quite is a little stronger than fairly, and rather is a little stronger than quite." It also notes that rather is not very common in North American English, where pretty does the job.
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Try Conversa FreeIs "not bad" a compliment?
A friend tastes your first attempt at curry and says "Not bad." Cambridge labels not bad informal and defines it as "very good." Oxford says "quite good; better than you expected." That's two dictionaries and two strengths for the same two words.
YouGov's scores settle it lower than either. Not bad averaged about 5.1 in the UK and 5.6 in the US, under OK in both countries. In YouGov's write-up only about a third of people put it bang in the middle; the rest spread out in both directions. People don't agree on what it's worth.
Linguists call this move litotes: saying something positive by denying its opposite. Wikipedia's entry uses exactly this example, and notes that intonation can make not bad mean either mediocre or excellent. You may already have the same move at home: French pas mal, German nicht schlecht, Chinese 不错 búcuò.
Listen for what comes after. "Not bad at all!" with a lift in the voice is real praise. "Not bad. The rice is a bit dry, though" is closer to OK. Britons, for all their reputation for understatement, scored it lower than Americans did.
Why "very delicious" sounds like a learner said it
You finish dinner at a colleague's house and say "This was very delicious." Your host smiles. Nobody corrects you. But it isn't what most native speakers would say.
Delicious already contains the very. The British Council puts it on its list of extreme adjectives with amazing, exhausted, freezing and enormous, and says that to make them stronger "we have to use absolutely or really." Cambridge's page on very makes the same rule with starred examples: her dress was absolutely stunning, not very stunning.
Delicious is already at the top of the scale. Absolutely or really pushes it; very doesn't fit.
Very delicious does turn up in real English, and Cambridge's wording is "not normally," not "never." It marks you as a learner. It isn't a grammar error. Really is the word that works on both kinds of adjective, really good and really delicious, which makes it the one intensifier you can use without stopping to think. And quite follows the rule from earlier: quite delicious means completely delicious, in London or in Chicago.
Three questions to decode it, and what to say back
Your manager flicks through the deck and says it's "quite good." Before you decide how you feel, ask three things.
- Who said it? An American rarely means "fairly" by quite. A Briton usually does, when the adjective has amounts.
- What came after quite? Good, interesting, nice can be weakened. Right, perfect, different, incredible can't, so quite means completely.
- How was it said? Oxford's note applies: the same sentence can mean "could be better" or "very good, especially when this is unexpected," and only the voice tells you.
If you still can't tell, give the reply that works for both meanings: "Thanks! Anything you'd change before it goes out?" If they meant it warmly, you look keen. If they meant "could be better," you've just asked for the notes they were too polite to send. It's the same move that decodes the softening layer in US meetings.
Praising someone yourself? Say really good or great. Both score high in both countries. Leave quite good out of praise for a British colleague unless you mean "good, not great." For more British and American traps, see the words that actually cost you and the softeners Anglo offices expect.
The survey tick box that flips between British and American English
Murphy blogged a perfect example of this going wrong: a survey from a Brighton MP with three boxes to tick. Very. Quite. Not at all.
To the British office that wrote it, quite is the middle box. An American ticking it means "very much," and gets counted as lukewarm. If you've lived in the US and moved to London, or work with both, that middle box is your whole problem.
If you're American and you care a lot, tick Very. And when you're the one writing the question, write really, so nobody on either side gets miscounted.