compare

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviations): cp., comp.

Etymology

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɛɚ/, , , ,
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɛə/, , ,

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)

Verb

compare (third-person singular simple present compares, present participle comparing, simple past and past participle compared)

1. (transitive) To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things . 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.

2. (transitive) To declare two things to be similar in some respect .

   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.

3. (transitive, grammar) To form the three degrees of comparison of (an adjective).

   We compare "good" as "good", "better", "best".

4. (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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Shall pack-horses […] compare with Caesar's?

5. (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

Derived terms

Related terms

• comparand, comparandum
• comparative
• comparison
• cf

Translations

Noun

compare (countable and uncountable, plural compares)

1. (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 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.

2. (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.

3. (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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Rhymes full of protest, of oath, and big compare.

Derived terms

See also

• contrast

References

• “compare”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• compear, pomerac, precoma

Asturian

Verb

compare

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of comparar

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʁ

Verb

compare

1. inflection of comparer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Galician

Verb

compare

1. inflection of comparar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /komˈpa.re/
• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: com‧pà‧re

Etymology 1

From Late Latin compatrem, from Latin com- (“together”) + pater (“father”), whence also padre. Cognate to Neapolitan cumpà, Sicilian cumpari; see more at compater.

Noun

compare m (plural compari, feminine comare)

1. 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

2. (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

3. (extensively) a way of addressing an old male friend

   Synonym: amico

4. (extensively, derogatory) accomplice

   Synonym: complice

Derived terms

• comparaggio
• comparatico

Related terms

• pare

See also

• comare

Etymology 2

Verb

compare

1. third-person singular present indicative of comparire

   Synonym: comparisce

Anagrams

• camperò, compera

Latin

Verb

compārē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of compāreō

Middle English

Verb

compare

1. Alternative form of comparen

Portuguese

Verb

compare

1. inflection of comparar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

compare

1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of compara

Spanish

Verb

compare

1. inflection of comparar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative