Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Admitting of comparison with another or others.
  • adjective Similar or equivalent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Capable of being compared.
  • Worthy of comparison; being of equal regard; worthy to be ranked with.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being compared; worthy of comparison.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Able to be compared (to).
  • adjective Similar (to); like.
  • adjective mathematics Constituting a pair in a particular partial order.
  • adjective grammar Said of an adjective that has a comparative and superlative form.
  • noun Something suitable for comparison

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective able to be compared or worthy of comparison
  • adjective conforming in every respect

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The first – to his boss, Fred Fielding, on Feb. 3, 1984 – denounced the notion of equal pay for comparable worth, saying “It is difficult to exaggerate the perniciousness of the ‘comparable worth’ theory.

    Printing: Judge Roberts's Slap at Women 2005

  • When the late Canadian radio host Peter Gzowski had a competition to come up with a phrase comparable to “American as apple pie,” the winner was “As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances.”

    FLY FISHING WITH DARTH VADER MATT LABASH 2010

  • From there, they're going to look at other properties in the neighborhood that have sold, and use those as what we call comparable sales, to compare to the property, to say if the sale sold for X amount of dollars, what should the subject property sell for in the open markets?

    CNN Transcript Jun 18, 2005 2005

  • KING: He wrote in his autobiography ten years ago he started dating you to escape cocaine which he described as comparable to jumping in a lake to avoid getting wet.

    CNN Transcript Mar 23, 2004 2004

  • U.S. District Judge Denny Chin cited the unprecedented nature of the multibillion-dollar fraud as he sentenced Madoff to the maximum of 150 years in prison, a term comparable only to those given in the past to terrorists, traitors and the most violent criminals.

    The News Tribune - Tacoma - - HOMEPAGE 2010

  • U.S. District Judge Denny Chin cited the unprecedented nature of the multibillion-dollar fraud as he sentenced Madoff to the maximum of 150 years in prison, a term comparable only to those given in the past to terrorists, traitors and the most violent criminals.

    The News Tribune - Tacoma - - HOMEPAGE 2010

  • Direct Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to compare pay scales in job categories held mostly by women or mostly by men, and then enforce wage control to equalize wages according to the feminists 'subjective definition of what they call comparable worth.

    ChronWatch - Articles 2009

  • It was the largest employment decrease since the agency began keeping what it described as comparable figures in 1976.

    Market News 2009

  • They have signs indicating rates of about 650 pesos which is considerably less expensive than staying in comparable places in Laredo.

    Laredo Hotels 2009

  • They have signs indicating rates of about 650 pesos which is considerably less expensive than staying in comparable places in Laredo.

    Laredo Hotels 2009

Comments

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  • From the examples:

    “When the late Canadian radio host Peter Gzowski had a competition to come up with a phrase comparable to “American as apple pie,” the winner was “As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances.””

    --Simon & Schuster: FLY FISHING WITH DARTH VADER

    August 15, 2012