1. a square or rectangular frame used by ecologists to mark off a specific area for studying plant or animal populations
Usage: ecology; biology
2. a piece of type metal lower than the letters, used for spacing in printing
Usage: printing; typography

Examples

• The biology students placed a quadrat on the forest floor to count the number of seedlings.
• Researchers used a one-meter quadrat to survey the grassland vegetation.
• Each quadrat was photographed before the plant species were identified and counted.
• The ecologist threw the quadrat randomly to ensure unbiased sampling.
• In the old printing shop, typesetters used quadrats to create proper spacing between words.
• The printer selected different sizes of quadrats for various spacing needs.