n kind of; sort of: What did you think of Jean’s new boyfriend? / Hmm, yeah, I suppose he was quite nice. This is something of a tough one because Brits will also use quite, in the same way as Americans, to mean “very.” The only real way to determine exactly which type of quite is being used is to look at how expressive the word that follows it is. If it’s a word like “perfect” or “delicious” then it’s being used the positive way; if it’s a word like “nice” or “pleasant” then it’s negative.