comparison

American  

[kuhm-par-uh-suhn] / kəmˈpær ə sən /

noun

1. the act of comparing.

2. the state of being compared.

3. a likening; illustration by similitude; comparative estimate or statement.

4. Rhetoric. the considering of two things with regard to some characteristic that is common to both, as the likening of a hero to a lion in courage.

5. capability of being compared or likened.

   Synonyms:

   similarity, resemblance, likeness

6. Grammar.

   1. the function of an adverb or adjective that is used to indicate degrees of superiority or inferiority in quality, quantity, or intensity.

   2. the patterns of formation involved therein.

   3. the degrees of a particular word, displayed in a fixed order, as mild, milder, mildest, less mild, least mild.

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comparison British  

/ kəmˈpærɪsən /

noun

1. the act or process of comparing

2. the state of being compared

3. comparable quality or qualities; likeness

   there was no comparison between them

4. a rhetorical device involving comparison, such as a simile

5. Also called: degrees of comparison.  grammar the listing of the positive, comparative, and superlative forms of an adjective or adverb

6. to be sufficiently similar in class or range to be compared with (something else), esp favourably

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Other Word Forms

• intercomparison noun
• precomparison noun
• recomparison noun

Etymology

Origin of comparison

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English comparesoun, from Old French comparaison, from Latin comparātiōn-, stem of comparātiō, from comparāt(us) “placed together” (past participle of comparāre “to place together, match”; compare ) + -iō -ion

Example Sentences

The benchmark index, by comparison, was trading at 22.49 times forward earnings.

From Barron's

With an auto loan, by comparison, a lender could seize the car after missed payments.

From The Wall Street Journal

Teaching AI chat bots is easy in comparison as they are able to absorb billions of web pages, books and films to get smarter.

From BBC

Michaud pointed out that when it comes to European comparisons, there is also “selected use” of them.

From Salon

Still, valuations of Chinese AI startups pale in comparison to leading U.S. players like Open AI and Anthropic.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• analogy
• connection
• contrast
• correlation
• example
• identification
• juxtaposition
• observation
• ratio
• relation
• resemblance
• similarity
• testing