emotional quotient

emotional quotient — noun

1. the personal skill of noticing your own feelings, reading other people's feeling

1.nounC1
Definition

the personal skill of noticing your own feelings, reading other people's feelings, and acting wisely on what you notice — for example, calming yourself when angry or sensing when a friend is upset.

Example

Yael handled the tense meeting calmly, which her boss said showed a strong emotional quotient.

collocation: show a strong emotional quotient

Good teachers often have a high emotional quotient and notice when a student is struggling silently.

collocation: have a high emotional quotient

Common collocations
  • high emotional quotient
  • low emotional quotient
  • develop emotional quotient
  • show emotional quotient
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

have/show + (high/low) + emotional quotient

develop + emotional quotient

Usage Note

Object of verbs like 'have', 'show', 'develop', or 'improve'. Often modified by 'high' or 'low'. Frequently shortened to 'EQ' in everyday writing, especially in business and education contexts.

Common Mistakes

She is very emotional quotient.
She has a very high emotional quotient.
'emotional quotient' is a noun, not an adjective; pair it with 'have' or 'show', usually with 'high' or 'low'.

2. a number from a test that tries to show how well a person can notice and handle

2.nounC1
Definition

a number from a test that tries to show how well a person can notice and handle feelings, in the same way an IQ score tries to show thinking ability.

Example

The clinic measures each new employee's emotional quotient with a short online questionnaire.

collocation: measure someone's emotional quotient

Valentina's emotional quotient was higher than her IQ score, which surprised her parents.

pattern: subject's emotional quotient + was + comparison

Common collocations
  • measure emotional quotient
  • emotional quotient test
  • high emotional quotient score
Synonyms
  • EQ score

    the abbreviated form, more common in informal writing

  • EI score

    alternative term using 'emotional intelligence' instead

Grammar Patterns

measure/test + emotional quotient

(somebody's) emotional quotient + is + (number/level)

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: sense 2 refers to a numerical result on a test, while sense 1 refers to the underlying ability itself. Often paired with verbs like 'measure', 'test', or 'score'.

Common Mistakes

My emotional quotient passed the test.
I passed the emotional quotient test.
the score is a number, not the thing taking the test; people take EQ tests, not the other way around.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four describe sensitivity to feelings, but they differ in scope and register. 'Emotional intelligence' is the most common term in everyday English and overlaps almost completely with 'emotional quotient', though 'emotional quotient' sounds slightly more formal and is favoured in business training and academic writing. 'Social intelligence' is broader — it covers reading group dynamics, status, and unspoken rules, not just one-to-one emotional reading. 'Empathy' names a single piece of the picture: feeling what another person feels. Someone with high empathy may still have a low emotional quotient if they cannot manage their own feelings. For example: 'Owen's empathy was obvious, but his low emotional quotient meant he often cried during meetings rather than acting on what he sensed.'

emotional quotient ↗emotional intelligencesocial intelligenceempathy ↗

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Coined in the 1980s on the model of 'intelligence quotient' (IQ), a term in use since the early 1900s. The phrase brings together 'emotional', from Latin 'emovere' meaning to move out or stir up, and 'quotient', from Latin 'quotiens' meaning how many times — originally a mathematical word for the result of a division. The combined term was popularised by psychologist Daniel Goleman's writing in the mid-1990s.