Meaning & use
compare
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To look at two or more things closely to see how they are alike or different.
Grammar: Takes an object, often with with: compare prices with last year's.
Patterns
- compare something with something
- compare something to something
- compare A and B
Compare the two contracts before you sign.
We compared prices at three stores.
Students must compare the poem with the film.
verbtransitive
To say that one thing is similar to another, often for effect.
Grammar: Uses to: compare someone to a star.
Patterns
- compare someone to someone
- compare something to something
Critics compared the singer to a young Aretha Franklin.
He compared life to a long journey.
The poet compares the sea to a restless animal.
verbintransitive
To be as good as or equal to something else.
Grammar: No object; usually with with or to and often negative: nothing compares to this.
Patterns
- compare with something
- compare favorably
Nothing compares with a homemade meal.
This phone does not compare with the latest model.
Her cooking compares well with that of professional chefs.
verbtransitivetechnical
To form comparative and superlative forms of a word, such as better and best.
Grammar: A grammar term: compare an adjective.
Patterns
- compare an adjective
The exercise asks you to compare the adjectives tall and happy.
Students learn to compare short adjectives by adding -er.
Some adjectives are compared irregularly, like good.
Word forms
| third person singular | compares |
|---|---|
| past tense | compared |
| past participle | compared |
| -ing form | comparing |
Common combinations
- compare notes
- We compared notes after the lecture.
- compare favorably
- The new model compares favorably with its rivals.
- compare prices
- It pays to compare prices before booking.
- compared with
- Compared with last year, sales are up.
- cannot compare
- You cannot compare apples and oranges.
- compare and contrast
- The essay asks you to compare and contrast two novels.
Synonyms and how they differ
- contrast
- Contrast focuses on differences, while compare can include similarities as well.
- liken
- Liken is formal and says only that one thing is similar to another.
- match up
- Match up is informal and refers to testing how well two things equal each other.
- measure
- Measure is used when judging one thing against a standard, not necessarily another thing.
Word family
- comparison noun
- the act of comparing
- comparative adjective
- involving comparison
- comparable adjective
- similar enough to be compared
- incomparable adjective
- so good nothing matches it
- comparatively adverb
- relatively
Commonly confused: compare or contrast? compare or compere?
compare vs contrast
Contrast shows differences, while compare can examine both likenesses and differences.
compare vs compere
Compere is a host of a show, and it only sounds similar to compare.
Practice
Our new office is small ____ the old one.
Choose one answer.
Compared with introduces the thing you are measuring against. Compare to is a verb form and does not fit after an adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “compare”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.