Meanings
alternative coæqual · alternative coëqual · alternative co-equal
- Equal to each other in size, rank or position.
ſince they meaſure our deſerts so meane, That in conceit beare Empires on our ſpeares, Affecting thoughts coequall with the cloudes, They ſhalbe kept our forced followers, Til with their eies they view vs Emperours.
c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii1 more example
Mr. Blinken stressed that point on Monday. “The speaker will make her own decisions about whether or not to visit Taiwan,” he said. “Congress is an independent, coequal branch of government. The decision is entirely the speaker’s.
2022 August 1, Peter Baker, quoting Antony Blinken, “U.S. Warns China Not to Turn Pelosi’s Expected Trip to Taiwan Into a ‘Crisis’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
plural coequals · alternative coæqual · alternative coëqual · alternative co-equal
- An equal person or thing.
The British desire to see ourselves as co-equals with the Americans (forgetting not just the French but the Canadians, Australians, Indians, Dutch and other forces who took part in the invasion) persists in defiance of the realities of 1944.
2009 May 31, Martin Kettle, “The humbug of war”, in The Guardian, →ISSN1 more example
If AI and robots really are going to augment human work rather than simply replace it, then it needs to be on terms that maximise human skills like empathy, creativity, playfulness and ethics, not just in the sense of leaving humans coequals with the technology or, worse still, its subordinates.
2017 April 12, Tim Dunlop, “Putting lipstick on the robot: why are corporate leaders happy about tech unemployment?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivehaving the same standing before the law
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincoaequālis
- Middle Englishcoequalle
- Englishcoequal
From Middle English coequalle, from Latin coaequālis; equivalent to co- + equal.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic نِدّ, نَظِير
- نِدّ (nidd)equal to each other
- نَظِير (naẓīr)equal to each other
Finnish yhdenvertainen
- yhdenvertainenequal to each other
French coégal
- coégalequal to each other
German gleichrangig, ebenbürtig
- gleichrangigequal to each other
- ebenbürtigequal to each other
- Ebenbürtigeran equal person or thing
Norwegian Bokmål jevnbyrdig, likemann
- jevnbyrdigequal to each other
- likemannan equal person or thing
- likean equal person or thing
Portuguese coigual
- coigualequal to each other
Spanish coigual
- coigualequal to each other
Cite this entry
coequal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coequal
“coequal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coequal. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coequal,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coequal.
Source: coequal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.