Compare Meaning
/kəmˈpɛɚ/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo 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.
verbTo declare two things to be similar in some respect ["to compare X to Y"].
Sentence Examples
Compare your answers with the teacher's.
Compare your answer with Tom's.
It is interesting to compare their situation and ours.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
Vocabulary Challenge
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The report will ____ the current year's sales with last year's performance.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
"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."
— 2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193:
"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: […] Hanna Barret, and Richard Whittaker, […], →OCLC:
"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."
— 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24:
"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 […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The report will ____ the current year's sales with last year's performance.