compare
Americanverb (used with object)
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compares,
present (3rd person singular)
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compared,
past participle, past
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comparing
present participle
-
to examine (two or more objects, ideas, people, etc.) in order to note similarities and differences.
If you compare these three pieces of cloth, you'll see they're all similar in weight.
It's difficult to directly compare the governments of two very different nations.
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to consider or describe as similar; liken.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?”
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Grammar. to form or display the degrees of comparison of (an adjective or adverb).
verb (used without object)
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compares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
compared,
past participle, past
-
comparing
present participle
-
to be worthy of comparison; be held equal.
Dekker's plays cannot compare with Shakespeare's.
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to appear in a similar standing.
His recital certainly compares with the one he gave last year.
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to differ in quality or accomplishment as specified.
Their development compares poorly with that of neighbor nations.
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Can we all agree that most people want fair treatment and to compare favorably with others?
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to make a comparison.
The only way we can say which product is better is to compare.
noun
idioms
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compare apples to / with / and apples, to compare things that are similar to each other in a basic or fundamental way.
Let’s compare apples to apples and look at the Professional package versus the Plus package.
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compare apples and / with / to oranges, to compare things that are fundamentally different from each other, usually used to suggest that the things cannot or should not be directly compared.
Comparing per pupil costs in public schools to tuition costs in private schools is comparing apples and oranges.
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compared to / with, considered in relation to; contrasted with.
The report investigated whether electric buses were cost-effective compared to traditional diesel buses.
Compared with other video editing software, our program offers many more features.
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compare and contrast. see compare and contrast.
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compare notes. note.
verb
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to regard or represent as analogous or similar; liken
the general has been compared to Napoleon
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to examine in order to observe resemblances or differences
to compare rum with gin
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to be of the same or similar quality or value
gin compares with rum in alcoholic content
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(intr) to bear a specified relation of quality or value when examined
this car compares badly with the other
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to correspond to
profits were £3.2 million. This compares with £2.6 million last year
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(tr) grammar to give the positive, comparative, and superlative forms of (an adjective)
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archaic (intr) to compete or vie
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to exchange opinions
noun
Usage
The traditional rule about which preposition to use after compare states that compare should be followed by to when it points out likenesses or similarities between two apparently dissimilar persons or things: She compared his handwriting to knotted string. Compare should be followed by with, the rule says, when it points out similarities or differences between two entities of the same general class: The critic compared the paintings in the exhibit with magazine photographs. This rule is by no means always observed, however, even in formal speech and writing. The usual practice is to employ to for likenesses between members of different classes: A language may be compared to a living organism. But when the comparison is between members of the same category, both to and with are used: The article compares the Chicago of today with (or to ) the Chicago of the 1890s. Following the past participle compared, either to or with is used regardless of whether differences or similarities are stressed or whether the things compared belong to the same or different classes: Compared with (or to ) the streets of 18th-century London, New York's streets are models of cleanliness and order.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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comparernoun
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intercompareverb (used with object)
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precompareverb (used with object)
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recompareverb (used with object)
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uncomparedadjective
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well-comparedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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comparesimple
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comparessimple
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have comparedperfect
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has comparedperfect
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am comparingprogressive
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are comparingprogressive
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is comparingprogressive
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have been comparingperfect progressive
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has been comparingperfect progressive
Past
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comparedsimple
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had comparedperfect
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was comparingprogressive
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were comparingprogressive
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had been comparingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of compare
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English comparen, from Latin comparāre “to place together, match,” verb derivative of compar “alike, matching” ( see com-, par 1); replacing Middle English comperen, from Old French comperer, from Latin
Explanation
To compare is to look at two things and see how they are similar and different. People compare all the time. If you look at two products and compare prices, you're looking for the better bargain. It is hard to compare who was the better athlete, Michael Jordan or Billie Jean King, because they played different sports. At a museum, you can compare different paintings. If you like your math teacher better than your history teacher, you're comparing the two. If a TV shows is bad, you could say "it doesn't compare" to your favorite show.
Vocabulary lists containing compare
The Language of Standardized Tests, List 1
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Academic Vocabulary: Core Tier 2 Words, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"People used to compare who had spent more," dance teacher Yuan told AFP at a new retail space in central Shanghai filled with luxury handbags, belts and jewellery items -- all second hand.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026
Swain said this Santa Ana wind event doesn’t compare to those that fanned the flames of the Palisades and Eaton fires.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
It allows researchers to compare how frequently strokes occurred across different periods.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
In 2023 the Pew Research Center, whose birth-year brackets fill corporate slide decks, announced it would compare generations only with data on people at similar stages of life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
It was the only one I’d ever really spent time on, so I had nothing to compare it to.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Interferometry compares the returning radar signals to detect changes in distance between the satellite and the surface.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
"But now everyone compares who got a better deal and spent less," the 24-year-old said at the two-storey warehouse-style store in the centre of the Chinese financial hub.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026
The letter compares the prospect to "Coronation Street leaving the north-west, or EastEnders leaving the south-east", adding that it risks "ripping out the heart of Ambridge".
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
That compares with a profit of $170.8 million, or $1.76 a share, a year earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The story behind the book was that she saw a movie that talked about one poem that compares this woman’s hands to flowers and rain.
From "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
But those features can’t make up for the Duo’s paltry zoom—just 2X, compared with 8X zoom in the 18 Pro—and the lower-resolution selfie camera.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
The higher figure for September was mostly caused by higher prices for motor fuel, which rose by 29.8% compared to September last year.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
He calls that minor compared with his gains, but I don’t.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
On Friday, the Moody's ratings agency is expected to lower its grade on France's public debt, which is one of the highest in the EU compared with GDP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026
“Nature is big. It’s powerful. It seems like we’re nothing compared to it, that there’s no way we could change it,” Akira said.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
They said that they did so in part by comparing the state data with “third party commercial data” sets and law enforcement data sets, and that they further vetted their list by culling dead people.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
Leading retirement researcher Wade Pfau recently weighed in on these fears on his podcast, Retire With Style, saying that many people are dissatisfied with annuities because they are comparing them to stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
"If you want to sell something to a person, you have to try to convince them by doing something," he said when comparing selling pictures to managing Premier League players.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
The process involves repeated rounds of cutting, staining, examining, and comparing samples.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 15, 2026
Leavitt’s genius was to realize that by comparing the relative magnitudes of Cepheids at different points in the sky you could work out where they were in relation to each other.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
