equal

comparative more equal · superlative most equal · alternative obsolete æqual · alternative obsolete æquall

1. not comparableusuallyThe same in one or more respects.

   Near-synonyms: equivalent; see also Thesaurus:equal

   1 more example

   Dr. [Eugenia] Cheng's latest book, Unequal: The Math of When Things Do and Don’t Add Up, is all about equations and will be released in the United States on Tuesday. But it is more than a regurgitation of the many formulas you may recall learning in high school. In the book, Dr. Cheng argues that an equation — in its barest sense, a declaration that two things are equal — can be a profound statement on the choices we make about what is or is not the same. For example, 2 × 3 may equal 3 × 2. But two packs of three cookies each is distinct from three packs of two cookies each. A cube drawn face-on versus from one edge looks different, though we understand the two shapes to be the same. "Almost everything can be considered equal and unequal at the same time," Dr. Cheng wrote. "And it's up to us what we do about it."

   2025 August 30, Katrina Miller, “You Don't Need to Be Good at Math to Enjoy It. In her latest book, Eugenia Cheng, a mathematician, explores the choices we make to determine if two things — numbers, shapes, words and even people — are equal. 'A Conversation With' column”, in New York Times

   Synonyms: equivalent

   1. not comparableusuallyThe same in value (status, merit, etc): having or deserving the same rights or treatment.

      We hold that all men are created equal and are thus equal under the law.

      3 more examples

      All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than the others.

      1945, George Orwell, Animal Farm

      [Under] the combat exclusion [preventing women from serving in combat...] Women are not equal citizens; women are a certain kind of citizen, a separate class with distinctly lower status.

      1983, Law & Inequality

      […] women and men should be equal regarding civil rights / the right to occupational work.

      2009, Kari Melby, Christina Carlsson Wetterberg, Anna-Birte Ravn, Gender Equality and Welfare Politics in Scandinavia: The Limits of Political Ambition?, Policy Press, →ISBN, page 57

      Synonyms: equivalent

   2. not comparableusuallyThe same in all respects that matter practically; interchangeable, fungible, or (even sometimes) identical for practical purposes.

      Equal conditions should produce equal results.

      3 more examples

      All else being equal, we can expect this factor to have no discernible effect by itself.

      They who are not disposed to receive them may let them alone or reject them; it is equal to me.

      1705, George Cheyne, The Philosophical Principles of Religion Natural and Revealed

      I now believe that evolution, or deevolution, never ends short of death, that no society has ever achieved an absolute pinnacle, that all humans are not created equal. In fact, I believe attempts to create some abstract equalization create a morass of injustices that rebound on the equalizers. Equal justice and equal opportunity are ideals we should seek, but we should recognize that humans administer the ideals and that humans do not have equal ability.

      1980 July, Frank Herbert, “Dune Genesis”, in Omni, volume 2, number 10, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 74, column 2; republished as Ultimate Guide To Dune (Part 2) Book One (1:11:30), 2017

      Synonyms: equivalent

   3. not comparableusuallymathematicsExactly identical, having the same value.

      All right angles are equal.

      1 more example

      The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

      1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

      Synonyms: equivalent

2. not comparableobsoleteusuallyFair, impartial.

   Are not my ways equal?

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 18:29

   2 more examples

   it could not but much redound to the lustre of your milde and equall Government, when as private persons are hereby animated to thinke ye better pleas'd with publick advice, then other statists have been delighted heretofore with publicke flattery.

   1644, John Milton, Areopagitica

   Thee, O Jove, no equall judge I deem.

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 35

   Synonyms: objective, unbiased, candid, cold, clinical, detached, egal, equitable

3. comparablenot comparableusuallyAdequate; sufficiently capable or qualified.

   be equal to the task

   5 more examples

   This test is pretty tough, but I think I'm equal to it.

   Here was a man some twenty thousand miles from home, by the way of Cape Horn, that is—which was the only way he could get there—thrown among people as strange to him as though he were in the planet Jupiter; and yet he seemed entirely at his ease; preserving the utmost serenity; content with his own companionship; always equal to himself.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter X, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC

   her comprehension was certainly more equal to the covert meaning, the superior intelligence, of those five letters so arranged.

   1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC

   The Scots trusted not their own numbers as equal to fight with the English.

   1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater

   much less is it in my power to make my commendations equal to your merits.

   1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

4. not comparableobsoleteusuallyNot variable; equable; uniform; even.

   an equal movement

   1 more example

   an equal temper

   1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: even, fair, uniform, unvarying, constant, changeless, nonchanging, static

5. not comparableusuallyentertainmentIntended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female; not mixed.

present singular third person equals · US participle present equaling · UK participle present equalling · US participle past equaled · US past equaled · UK participle past equalled · UK past equalled · alternative obsolete æqual · alternative obsolete æquall

1. copulativemathematicsTo be equal to, to have the same value as; to correspond to.

   Two plus two equals four.

   Synonyms: be, is

2. transitiveTo make equivalent to; to cause to match.

   David equaled the water levels of the bottles, so they now both contain exactly 1 liter.

   1 more example

   There was an even more remarkable attendance figure that underscores the devotion exhibited by our fans, because it was in 1991 that they set a single season in-stadium attendance record that has never been equaled.

   2004, Mary Levy, Jim Kelly, Marv Levy: Where Else Would You Rather Be?

3. transitiveTo match in degree or some other quality, to match up to.

   And what delights can equal those ⁠That stir the spirit’s inner deeps, ⁠When one that loves but knows not, reaps A truth from one that loves and knows?

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 64

4. copulativeinformalTo have as consequence, to amount to, to mean.

   Might does not equal right.

   2 more examples

   Losing this deal equals losing your job.

   Eclectic and sophisticated are hence coded as negative traits–so cool equaling not so cool–putting Swift in seemed lockstep with the anti-intellectual sentiment that's led to the astonishing 21st-Century Bubbafication of the Republican Party.

   2012, Mike Seely, “The War on Williamsburg”, in Seattle Weekly, Volume 37, Number 49, 5 December - 11 December 2012, page 36

   Synonyms: entail, imply, lead to, mean, result in, spell

plural equals · alternative obsolete æqual · alternative obsolete æquall

1. countableuncountableA person or thing of equal status to others.

   We're all equals here.

   4 more examples

   This beer has no equal.

   Those who were once his equals envy and defame him.

   1712 January 3 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SUNDAY, December 24, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 256; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

   The two who have no equals become friends without equal.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 192

   They had hoped their son, a stockbroker, would marry a financial equal, but Suzette, a teacher, did not come from money.

   2005, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler, On Grief and Grieving, →ISBN, page 150

   Synonyms: peer, coordinate

2. countableobsoleteuncountableState of being equal; equality.

   Thou that presum'st to weigh the world anew, And all things to an equall to restore.

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC