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compare

verb
/kəmˈpɛɚ/US/kəmˈpɛə/UK

Etymology

From Middle English comparen, from Old French comparer, from Latin comparare (“to prepare, procure”), from compar (“like or equal to another”), from com- + par (“equal”). Displaced native Old English metan (“to compare,” also “to measure”).

  1. derived from comparare
  2. derived from comparer
  3. inherited from comparen

Definitions

  1. To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things ["to compare X with…

    To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things ["to compare X with Y"]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it similar to Y or different from Y.

    • Compare the tiger's coloration with that of the zebra.
    • You can't compare my problems and yours.
    • Sophia broke down here. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's.

  2. To declare two things to be similar in some respect ["to compare X to Y"].

    • Astronomers have compared comets to dirty snowballs.
    • Solon compared the people unto the sea, and orators and counsellors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet if the winds did not trouble it.
    • And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which consumed him.

  3. To form the three degrees of comparison of (an adjective).

    • We compare "good" as "good", "better", "best".
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. To be similar (often used in the negative).

      • A sapling and a fully-grown oak tree do not compare.
      • Shall pack-horses[…]compare with Caesar's?

    2. To get

      To get; to obtain.

      • To fill his bags, and richesse to compare.

    3. Comparison.

      • His mighty Champion, ſtrong above compare,
      • Their small galleys may not hold compare with our tall ships.

    4. An instruction or command that compares two values or states.

      • […] including addition and subtraction, memory operations, compares, shifts, logic operations, and condition operations.

    5. Illustration by comparison

      Illustration by comparison; simile.

      • Rhymes full of protest, of oath, and big compare.

The neighborhood

Derived

comparable, compare and contrast, compare and despair, compare apples to apples, compare apples with apples, comparee, compare notes, comparingly, incompared, intercompare, miscompare, recompare, uncompared, beyond compare

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at compare. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01compare02assess03impose04chiefly05chief06tribe07clan08defined09low

A definitional loop anchored at compare. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at compare

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA