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

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

From The Wall Street Journal

To be sure, stocks in the S&P don’t grow like new, hot startups, making comparisons difficult, another reason it’s hard to value small growth stocks.

From Barron's

Markets were, by comparison to the present day, highly efficient.

From MarketWatch

This follows strong demand seen in 2024 and 2025 as well as a high comparison base, while macro headwinds and weak consumer sentiment persist, they say.

From The Wall Street Journal

The comparison also revealed shared emission hotspots, including Equatorial Asia, Northern Hemisphere Africa, and Southeast Asia.

From Science Daily

Related Words

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