comparable

English

Etymology

From Middle English comparable, from Middle French comparable, from Latin comparābilis. By surface analysis, compare +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmp(ə)ɹəbl̩/, /kəmˈpæɹəbl̩/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmp(ə)ɹəbl̩/, /kəmˈpæɹəbl̩/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɛɹəbl̩/

Adjective

comparable (comparative more comparable, superlative most comparable)

1. (often with to) Able to be compared (to).

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

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

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

     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."

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

     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.

2. (often with to) Similar (to); like.
   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

     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.

3. (mathematics) Constituting a pair in a particular partial order.

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

5. (grammar) Said of an adjective that has comparative and superlative forms.

   Synonym: gradable

   "Big" is a comparable adjective, since it can take the forms "bigger" and "biggest"; but "unique" and "true" are not comparable, except in disputed, but common, usage.

Usage notes

The pronunciation /ˈkɒmp(ə)ɹəbl̩/ is almost never used for sense 4.

Derived terms

• biocomparable
• comparability
• comparable function
• comparableness
• comparable worth
• comparably
• incomparable
• intercomparable
• noncomparable (or non-comparable)
• uncomparable

Translations

able to be compared

Asturian: comparable Bulgarian: сравним (bg) (sravnim) Catalan: comparable (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 比得上 (zh) (bǐdeshàng), 可比較的, 可比较的 (kě bǐjiào de) Czech: srovnatelný m Dutch: vergelijkbaar (nl) Esperanto: komparebla Finnish: verrattavissa oleva French: comparable (fr) Galician: comparable (gl), comparábel (gl) German: vergleichbar (de); (in grammar) steigerbar (de), komparabel (de), komparierbar, graduierbar Greek: συγκρίσιμος (el) (sygkrísimos) Hindi: तुल्य (hi) (tulya) Hungarian: összehasonlítható (hu), összemérhető (hu), fogható (hu), hasonlítható (hu), mérhető (hu) Italian: comparabile (it) Japanese: 比較できる (ja) (ひかくできる, hikaku dekiru) Korean: 비슷하다 (ko) (biseuthada), 견줄 만하다 (gyeonjul manhada), 비교(比較)할 수 있다 (bigyohal su itda), 비교(比較)가 가능(可能)하다 (bigyo-ga ganeunghada) Macedonian: споредлив (sporedliv) Middle English: comparable Norwegian: sammenlignbar (no), komparabel (no) Old English: wiþmetendlīċ Polish: porównywalny (pl) Portuguese: comparável (pt) Romanian: comparabil (ro) Russian: сравни́мый (ru) (sravnímyj), сопостави́мый (ru) (sopostavímyj) Slovak: porovnateľný Spanish: comparable (es), equiparable Swedish: jämförbar (sv) Turkish: karşılaştırılabilir

similar — see similar

gradable — see gradable

Noun

comparable (plural comparables)

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

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

Further reading

• “comparable”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• comparable in Britannica Dictionary
• comparable in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• comparable adjectives, gradable adjectives at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin comparābilis.

Adjective

comparable (epicene, plural comparables)

1. comparable

Related terms

• comparar
• incomparable

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin comparābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kum.pəˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kom.pəˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kom.paˈɾa.ble]

Adjective

comparable m or f (masculine and feminine plural comparables)

1. comparable

   Antonym: incomparable

Derived terms

• comparablement

Related terms

• comparar
• incomparable

Further reading

• “comparable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

From Latin comparābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.pa.ʁabl/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

Adjective

comparable (plural comparables)

1. comparable (suitable to be compared)

Related terms

• comparabilité

Further reading

• “comparable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Alternative forms

• comparábel

Etymology

From Latin comparābilis.

Adjective

comparable m or f (plural comparables)

1. comparable

Related terms

• comparar
• incomparábel / incomparable

Further reading

• “comparable”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Middle English

Alternative forms

• comperable

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French comparable, from Latin comparābilis; equivalent to comparen +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɔmpaˈraːbəl/, /ˌkɔmpaˈraːblə/, /ˈkɔmpərabəl/

Adjective

comparable (Late Middle English)

1. Of identical or similar value; comparing favourably.
2. Comparable, commensurable; suitable for comparison.

Descendants

• English: comparable

References

• “comparāble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin comparābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kompaˈɾable/ [kõm.paˈɾa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: com‧pa‧ra‧ble

Adjective

comparable m or f (masculine and feminine plural comparables)

1. comparable

   Synonym: equiparable

   Antonym: incomparable

Derived terms

• comparabilidad
• comparablemente

Related terms

• comparar
• incomparable

Further reading

• “comparable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10