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
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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:
To compare to another major market, it is four times the $5-billion-a-year size of global aviation insurance, according to S&P.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Scientists have managed to compare the fine detail of the brains of male and female flies for the first time, identifying differences they say explain male aggression, courtship and their singing of love songs.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Now all in their 50s, the women have been asking similar questions of the same culture, and are only now getting the chance to compare answers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Both observatories can detect infrared light, giving astronomers the ability to compare and combine their observations.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
“How does this view compare to that one?”
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
That compares with a profit of $305 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
That’s much more than the $26.5 billion, or 0.07% of AUM, that all equity funds took in a year ago, and compares with $2 billion of outflows for U.S. equity funds seen in August 2025.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
"I use the meteorological calendar when putting current conditions into context - whether that's comparing this summer's temperatures with a long-term average, or looking at how a season compares with previous years."
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Don Henley compares the Eagles’ role there to the organist at a silent movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Shin compares his emergence to the slow growth of a fingernail.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
Sometimes, the recruiter’s name is different in the email address compared to the content.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
Researchers have tagged roughly 45 sharks so far this year, compared with about 40 in all of last year, and the peak of the season has probably not arrived, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
She said meeting patients in a garden can have benefits compared to seeing them a consulting room and describes the garden as her "happy place".
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Direct U.S. sulfur exports to China are de minimis compared with U.S. production and consumption.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
All this compared to the forty-five seconds we spend downing bioloaf.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
For his part, Hausfather cautioned that there are “pretty big uncertainties when you are working with indirect measurements like coral proxy records,” so comparing historic El Niños to modern ones is inherently hard to do.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
But adoption itself was not optional, the OpenAI chief argued, comparing a country refusing AI to one refusing electricity a century ago.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Accordingly, the opportunity for error and other failure with this new IT system comparing a batch manifest with the new statewide list is high.”
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
The last time Bhagwat spoke in the U.S., eight years ago, he urged solidarity among Hindus—who have caste, language and other divides—by comparing the community to a lion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
I remember watching them that first day, comparing them.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
