Comparison

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /kÊŒmˈpæɹɪsÉ™n/, /kÊŒmˈpɛɹɪsÉ™n/

Origin

From Old French comparison, from Latin comparātiō, from comparātus, perfect passive participle of comparō.

Full definition of comparison

Noun

1. The act of comparing or the state or process of being compared.to bring a thing into comparison with another; there is no comparison between them
• 2013-07-20, Old soldiers?, Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
2. An evaluation of the similarities and differences of one or more things relative to some other or each-other.
   He made a careful comparison of the available products before buying anything.
• MacaulayAs sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them.
• TrenchThe miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison.
3. With a negation, the state of being similar or alike.
   There really is no comparison between the performance of today's computers and those of a decade ago.
4. (grammar) The ability of adjectives and adverbs to form three degrees, as in hot, hotter, hottest.
5. That to which, or with which, a thing is compared, as being equal or like; illustration; similitude.
• Bible, Mark iv. 30Whereto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it?
6. (rhetoric) simile
7. (phrenology) The faculty of the reflective group which is supposed to perceive resemblances and contrasts.

Related terms

• comparable
• comparative
• comparator
• compare
• suffer by comparison