comparable

comparative more comparable · superlative most comparable

1. oftenAble to be compared (to).

   An elephant is comparable in size to a double-decker bus.

   3 more examples

   You can't say that robbing a bank is like pickpocketing. The two are just not comparable.

   The firebox married to Britannia's boiler is not, however, in the Doncaster tradition, notwithstanding that it is comparable in dimensions to that of the "V2."

   1951 April, Stirling Everard, “A Matter of Pedigree”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 273

   As yet, we don't know what the comparable figures will be like for the current financial year which ends in March 2022, but we can have a good stab at approximating them.

   2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22

2. oftenSimilar (to); like.

   Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

   2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist

3. mathematicsConstituting a pair in a particular partial order.

   Six and forty-two are comparable in the divides order, but six and nine are not.

4. grammarHaving comparative and superlative forms.

   "Big" is a comparable adjective because it can take the forms "bigger" and "biggest"; "unique" and "amazing", in contrast, are not comparable adjectives.

   Synonyms: gradable

plural comparables

1. Something suitable for comparison.

   And the appraiser said he couldn't come up with comparables, because there hadn't been any sales nearby in several months.

   2009 January 2, Fred A. Bernstein, “Catskill Home Prices: How Low Will They Go?”, in New York Times