compare
See also: comparé
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
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”).
Pronunciation edit
- (General American) IPA(key): /kəmˈpɛɚ/, [kəmˈpɛɚ], [kəmˈpɛɹ], [kəmˈpeɚ], [kəmˈpeɹ]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kəmˈpɛə/, [kəmˈpɛː], [kəmˈpɛə], [kəmˈpeə]
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
Verb edit
compare (third-person singular simple present compares, present participle comparing, simple past and past participle compared)
- (transitive) 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.
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
- 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.
- 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:
- Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.
- (transitive) To declare two things to be similar in some respect ["to compare X to Y"].
- Astronomers have compared comets to dirty snowballs.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], Apophthegmes New and Old. […], London: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], →OCLC:
- 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.
- 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24:
- 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 consumed him.
- (transitive, grammar) To form the three degrees of comparison of (an adjective).
- We compare "good" as "good", "better", "best".
- (intransitive) To be similar (often used in the negative).
- A sapling and a fully-grown oak tree do not compare.
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
- Shall pack-horses […] compare with Caesar's?
- (obsolete) To get; to obtain.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28:
- To fill his bags, and richesse to compare.
Conjugation edit
Conjugation of compare
infinitive | (to) compare | ||
---|---|---|---|
present tense | past tense | ||
1st-person singular | compare | compared | |
2nd-person singular | compare, comparest† | compared, comparedst† | |
3rd-person singular | compares, compareth† | compared | |
plural | compare | ||
subjunctive | compare | compared | |
imperative | compare | — | |
participles | comparing | compared |
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to assess the similarities between two things or between one thing and another
|
to declare two things to be similar in some respect
to form the three degrees of comparison of
|
to be similar
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun edit
compare (countable and uncountable, plural compares)
- (uncountable) Comparison.
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 38, line 557:
- His mighty Champion, ſtrong above compare,
- a. 1687, Edmund Waller, To my Worth Friend Sir Thomas Higgons:
- Their small galleys may not hold compare with our tall ships.
- (countable, programming) An instruction or command that compares two values or states.
- 1998, International Conference on Computer Design: Proceedings, IEEE, page 490:
- […] including addition and subtraction, memory operations, compares, shifts, logic operations, and condition operations.
- 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. This should highlight whether there are differences in the lengths of VARCHARs and then the differences can be corrected before you clone.
- (uncountable, obsolete) Illustration by comparison; simile.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Rhymes full of protest, of oath, and big compare.
See also edit
References edit
- “compare”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams edit
Asturian edit
Verb edit
compare
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
compare
- inflection of comparer:
Italian edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Late Latin compatrem, from Latin com- (“together”) + pater (“father”), whence also padre. Cognate to Neapolitan cumpà, Sicilian cumpari; see more at compater.
Noun edit
compare m (plural compari, feminine comare)
- a child's godfather in relation to their parents: a co-father; or a child's father in relation to their co-father and his family
- Synonym: padrino
- (extensively) a male wedding witness or best man in relation to the spouses, or a bridegroom in relation to his wedding witness
- Synonyms: testimone, testimone di nozze
- (extensively) a way of addressing an old male friend
- Synonym: amico
- (extensively, derogatory) accomplice
- Synonym: complice
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
See also edit
Etymology 2 edit
Verb edit
compare
- third-person singular present indicative of comparire
- Synonym: comparisce
Anagrams edit
Latin edit
Verb edit
compārē
Middle English edit
Verb edit
compare
- Alternative form of comparen
Portuguese edit
Verb edit
compare
- inflection of comparar:
Romanian edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
compare
Spanish edit
Verb edit
compare
- inflection of comparar: