equivalence

[ ih-kwiv-uh-luhns ee-kwuh-vey-luhns ]

noun

1. the state or fact of being equivalent; equality in value, force, significance, etc.
2. an instance of this; an equivalent.
3. Chemistry. the quality of having equal valence.
4. Logic, Mathematics.
   1. Also called material implication. the relation between two propositions such that the second is not false when the first is true.
   2. Also called material equivalence. the relation between two propositions such that they are either both true or both false.
   3. the relation between two propositions such that each logically implies the other.

adjective

1. (of a logical or mathematical relationship) reflexive, symmetrical, and transitive.

equivalence

/ ɪˈkwɪvələns /

noun

1. the state of being equivalent or interchangeable
2. maths logic
   1. the relationship between two statements, each of which implies the other
   2. Also calledbiconditional the binary truth-function that takes the value true when both component sentences are true or when both are false, corresponding to English if and only if . Symbol: ≡ or ↔, as in –( p ∧ q ) ≡ – p ∨ – q

Other Words From

• none·quiva·lence noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of equivalence¹

1535–45; < Middle French < Medieval Latin aequivalentia, equivalent to Latin aequivalent- equivalent + -ia -ia; -ence

Example Sentences

With subtlety and a solemnity reflecting key events in Claire’s past, Evans offers a powerful refusal of the false equivalence.

From Washington Post

There is no decision on so-called equivalence, which would allow firms to sell their services into the single market from the City of London.

From Fortune

Many scientists suspect that the new theory will violate the equivalence principle by an amount too small to have been detected with tests performed thus far.

From Science News

Last year, the EU withdrew equivalence from Switzerland, effectively prohibiting the trading of EU-listed securities there.

From Fortune

Riehl hopes that their reframing will make higher category theory accessible to more mathematicians while offering new insights into why the mathematics of equivalence is so powerful.

From Quanta Magazine

Bratton might have said something that was closer to a real-world moral equivalence.

From The Daily Beast

He was trying, I think, to demonstrate balance and equivalence.

From The Daily Beast

And no one is better equipped to refute this false equivalence than Mack herself.

From The Daily Beast

The equivalence between comic books and Scripture is telling of how seriously canon is taken by these fans.

From The Daily Beast

Moral equivalence and malaise, rather than red-hot ideology, motivates Haydon.

From The Daily Beast

The several forms of energy are interconvertible, and possess an exact quantitative equivalence.

From Project Gutenberg

Written language is thus a point-to-point equivalence, to borrow a mathematical phrase, to its spoken counterpart.

From Project Gutenberg

Those of most other countries have either not yet been fully studied or their exact equivalence remains undetermined.

From Project Gutenberg

The experiments of Rumford, Davy, and Joule were instrumental in establishing the equivalence of mechanical energy and heat.

From Project Gutenberg

The exact equivalence between the mechanical energy lost and the heat produced is the thing to be especially noticed here.

From Project Gutenberg