compare

Comparison.

Noun

  1. Comparison.
    • His mighty Champion, ſtrong above compare, - 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […],...
    • Their small galleys may not hold compare with our tall ships. - a. 1687, Edmund Waller, To my Worth Friend Sir Thomas Higgons:
  2. An instruction or command that compares two values or states.
    • […] including addition and subtraction, memory operations, compares, shifts, logic operations, and condition operations. - 1998, International Conference on Computer Design: Proceedings, IEEE, page 490:
    • 2013, Paolo Bruni, Carlos Alberto Gomes da Silva Junior, Craig McKellar, Managing DB2 for z/OS Utilities with DB2 Tools Solution Packs It is always advisable to run a compare between your source and target environments....
  3. Illustration by comparison; simile.
    • Rhymes full of protest, of oath, and big compare. - c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio),...

Origin

From Middle English comparen, from Old French comparer, from Latin comparare (“to prepare, procure”), from compar (“like or equal to another”), from com- + par (“equal”). Displaced native Old English metan (“to compare,” also “to measure”).

Forms

compares cp. comp. cmp

Related

contrast

Derived

beyond compare

Verb

  1. To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things ["to compare X with Y"]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it similar to Y or different from Y.
    • Compare the tiger's coloration with that of the zebra.
    • You can't compare my problems and yours.
    • Sophia broke down here. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's. - 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City,...

    Synonyms: set against weigh against collate

  2. To declare two things to be similar in some respect ["to compare X to Y"].
    • Astronomers have compared comets to dirty snowballs.
    • Solon compared the people unto the sea, and orators and counsellors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet if the winds did not trouble it. - 1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London:...
    • And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which...

    Synonyms: liken

  3. To form the three degrees of comparison of (an adjective).
    • We compare "good" as "good", "better", "best".
  4. To be similar (often used in the negative).
    • A sapling and a fully-grown oak tree do not compare.
    • Shall pack-horses[…]compare with Caesar's? - c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
  5. To get; to obtain.
    • To fill his bags, and richesse to compare. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28:

Forms

compares comparing compared no-table-tags glossary compare comparest comparedst compareth - cp. comp. cmp

Related

comparand comparandum comparative comparison cf

Derived

comparable compare and contrast compare and despair compare apples to apples compare apples with apples comparee compare notes comparingly incompared intercompare miscompare recompare uncompared