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Compare   /kəmpˈɛr/   Listen
verb
Compare  v. t.  (past & past part. compared; pres. part. comparing)  
1.
To examine the character or qualities of, as of two or more persons or things, for the purpose of discovering their resemblances or differences; to bring into comparison; to regard with discriminating attention. "Compare dead happiness with living woe." "The place he found beyond expression bright, Compared with aught on earth." "Compare our faces and be judge yourself." "To compare great things with small."
2.
To represent as similar, for the purpose of illustration; to liken. "Solon compared the people unto the sea, and orators and counselors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet if the winds did not trouble it."
3.
(Gram.) To inflect according to the degrees of comparison; to state positive, comparative, and superlative forms of; as, most adjectives of one syllable are compared by affixing "- er" and "-est" to the positive form; as, black, blacker, blackest; those of more than one syllable are usually compared by prefixing "more" and "most", or "less" and "least", to the positive; as, beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful.
Synonyms: To Compare, Compare with, Compare to. Things are compared with each other in order to learn their relative value or excellence. Thus we compare Cicero with Demosthenes, for the sake of deciding which was the greater orator. One thing is compared to another because of a real or fanciful likeness or similarity which exists between them. Thus it has been common to compare the eloquence of Demosthenes to a thunderbolt, on account of its force, and the eloquence of Cicero to a conflagration, on account of its splendor. Burke compares the parks of London to the lungs of the human body.


Compare  v. t.  To get; to procure; to obtain; to acquire (Obs.) "To fill his bags, and richesse to compare."


Compare  v. i.  
1.
To be like or equal; to admit, or be worthy of, comparison; as, his later work does not compare with his earlier. "I should compare with him in excellence."
2.
To vie; to assume a likeness or equality. "Shall pack horses... compare with Caesars?"


noun
Compare  n.  
1.
Comparison. (Archaic) "His mighty champion, strong beyond compare." "Their small galleys may not hold compare With our tall ships."
2.
Illustration by comparison; simile. (Obs.) "Rhymes full of protest, of oath, and big compare."
Beyond compare. See Beyond comparison, under Comparison.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Compare" Quotes from Famous Books



... to three eastern colleges, amongst others to Yale, the only American university which by its buildings and surroundings can lay any claim to compare, even at a long distance, in beauty and associations, with the least among European universities. The three colleges gave him nearly similar answers; but one of them, in addition to the formal statement of terms ...
— Biographies of Working Men • Grant Allen
... first question in the Church catechism, which is certainly quite on the level of any child's understanding,—'What is your name?' It was such an easy good start, I could say it so loud and clear, and I was accustomed to compare it with the first question in the Primer, 'What is the chief end of man?' as vastly more difficult for me to answer. In fact, between my aunt's secret unbelief and my own childish impatience of too much catechism, the matter was indefinitely postponed after a few ineffectual attempts, ...
— The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe • Charles Edward Stowe
... The Greeks feared to name Pluto directly and mentioned him by one of many descriptive titles, such as 'Host of Many': compare the Christian use of O DIABOLOS or ...
— Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica • Homer and Hesiod
... what means has this hitherto unheard-of change been effected? Nobody in any of our museums has as yet been able to restore the natural features to stuffed animals; and he who has any doubts of this, let him take a living cat or dog and compare them with a stuffed cat or dog in any of the first-rate museums. A momentary glance of the eye would soon settle ...
— Wanderings In South America • Charles Waterton
... in his office was fully justified. There was nothing in London, nothing in England to match it as a perfect business machine. And there was no private office in Europe which could compare in impressiveness with ...
— Swirling Waters • Max Rittenberg


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