known quantity

known quantity

Someone or something whose inherent value, characteristics, or properties are previously established. This project is extremely important, so I want every team member working on it to be a known quantity. The success of this product has become something of a known quantity for the company each year.
See also: known, quantity
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

known quantity

someone whose character, personality, and behavior are recognized and understood. We need not worry about how John will behave. He is a known quantity. Lisa is a known quantity and I am sure she will not surprise us by voting with the opposition.
See also: known, quantity
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • in common
  • in common (with someone or something)
  • in common with somebody/something
  • same as
  • the same as (someone or something)
  • perceive
  • perceive (someone or something) as (something)
  • perceive as
  • a walking
  • a walking (something)
References in periodicals archive
Leicester's Jamie Vardy is at the whiskery stage too - but a known quantity. Razor-sharp and bristling with goals.
Leicester's Jamie Vardy is at the whiskery stage too of course -- but all his cards are face-up, he's a known quantity. Razor-sharp and bristling with goals.
'Shafie is a known quantity in Sabah and was an influential state politician holding an important federal post while he was one of the vice-presidents of Umno while the newer mentri besars in Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Perak and to a lesser extent, Selangor, will need more time to raise their respective profiles and to exert their influence within their own states,' he said.
It is a fight between a known quantity, Netanyahu, and an unknown quantity, Benny Gantz.
Mintak said Standard Lithium minimized risk by partnering with Lanxess, a known quantity. "We're working in a place with an existing infrastructure and with a company that's the largest Arkansas bromine company, with access to all necessary raw materials, and in a state that's one of the best business-friendly jurisdictions in the country.
Levine (Professor of Law and Director of the Jewish Law Institute at Touro Law Center) clarifies that he is not a psychologist and cannot formally diagnose Yosef, so the idea that Yosef could have been on the autism spectrum is evaluated as a possibility with some supporting evidence, but not as a known quantity. Was Yosef on the Spectrum?
To VisioCap LLC, which acquired Nature's Logic in 2017, Yaskulka is a known quantity. Founding partner Steve Marton says, "Having worked with David for seven years, we are confident his business leadership and vision will help Nature's Logic inspire a new generation of consumers to switch to 100% natural."
We can roughly infer this by comparing recession searches with searches for another known quantity that's popular enough to assume widespread popular interest: Kim Kardashian, for instance.
This is but one of many salvos Emmerich fires in her book, which, according to the author, "has the perhaps immodest goal of challenging the time-honored tradition--long upheld by readers, reviewers, publishers, literary scholars, even many translators and scholars of translation--of referring to the objects of literary translation as if each were a known quantity, a singular entity whose lexical context is stable or fixed: the 'original,' 'the Arabic original,' 'the original French text,' 'the source text,' 'Kafka's German,' and so on."
So far, no strong challenger has appeared, and a president who vies for re-election has the natural advantage of "being a known quantity".
| KNOWN QUANTITY City last played Cardiff four years ago in the Premier League.
Kemp says Pulis (left) is a known quantity in the Prem
Emmerich challenges the hoary tradition--held by readers, reviewers, publishers, literary scholars, and even many translators and scholars of translation--of referring to the objects of literary translation as if each were a known quantity, a singular entity with a stable and fixed lexical content.
WITH more than six million sold since 1995, it might be reasonable to assume the Renault Megane is a known quantity - well think again.
"Because you may be dealing with new people all the time, their work may not be a known quantity, " he says.