Comparable

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈkÉ’mp(É™)ɹəblÌ©/
• US IPA: /kÉ’mˈpæɹəblÌ©/, /kÉ™mˈpɛɹəblÌ©/

Origin

From Middle French comparable.

Full definition of comparable

Adjective

1. (often with to) Able to be compared (to).
   An elephant is comparable in size to a double-decker bus.   You can't say that robbing a bank is like pickpocketing. The two are just not comparable.
2. (often with to) Similar (to); like.
• 2013, Philip J. Bushnell, Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance, Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.
3. (mathematics) Constituting a pair in a particular partial order.
   Six and forty-two are comparable in the divides order, but six and nine are not.
4. (grammar) Said of an adjective that has a comparative and superlative form.
   "Big" is a comparable adjective, since it can take the forms "bigger" and "biggest"; but "unique" is not comparable, except in disputed, but common, usage.

Related terms

• incomparable
• comparability
• comparableness

Noun

1. Something suitable for comparison.
• And the appraiser said he couldn't come up with comparables, because there hadn't been any sales nearby in several months.