com·pare   (kəm-pâr')    v.   com·pared, com·par·ing, com·pares v.   tr. To consider or describe as similar, equal, or analogous; liken. To examine in order to note the similarities or differences of. Grammar To form the positive, comparative, or superlative degree of (an adjective or adverb). v.   intr. To be worthy of comparison; bear comparison: two concert halls that just do not compare. To draw comparisons. n.  Comparison: a musician beyond compare. [Middle English comparen, from Old French comparer, from Latin comparāre, from compār, equal : com-, com- + pār, equal; see perə-2 in Indo-European roots.] com·par'er n. Usage Note: Compare usually takes the preposition to when it refers to the activity of describing the resemblances between unlike things: He compared her to a summer day. Scientists sometimes compare the human brain to a computer. It takes with when it refers to the act of examining two like things in order to discern their similarities or differences: The police compared the forged signature with the original. The committee will have to compare the Senate's version of the bill with the version that was passed by the House. When compare is used to mean "to liken (one) with another," with is traditionally held to be the correct preposition: That little bauble is not to be compared with (not to) this enormous jewel. But to is frequently used in this context and is not incorrect.

Compare

Com*pare"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Compared; p. pr. & vb. n. Comparing.] [L. comparare, fr. compar like or equal to another; com- + par equal: cf. F. comparer. See Pair, Peer an equal, and cf. Compeer.]

1. To examine the character or qualities of, as of two or more persons or things, for the purpose of discovering their resemblances or differences; to bring into comparison; to regard with discriminating attention.

Compare dead happiness with living woe. --Shak.

The place he found beyond expression bright, Compared with aught on earth. --Milton.

Compare our faces and be judge yourself. --Shak.

To compare great things with small. --Milton.

2. To represent as similar, for the purpose of illustration; to liken.

Solon compared the people unto the sea, and orators and counselors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet if the winds did not trouble it. --Bacon.

3. (Gram.) To inflect according to the degrees of comparison; to state positive, comparative, and superlative forms of; as, most adjectives of one syllable are compared by affixing "- er" and "-est" to the positive form; as, black, blacker, blackest; those of more than one syllable are usually compared by prefixing "more" and "most", or "less" and "least", to the positive; as, beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful.

Syn: To Compare, Compare with, Compare to.

Usage: Things are compared with each other in order to learn their relative value or excellence. Thus we compare Cicero with Demosthenes, for the sake of deciding which was the greater orator. One thing is compared to another because of a real or fanciful likeness or similarity which exists between them. Thus it has been common to compare the eloquence of Demosthenes to a thunderbolt, on account of its force, and the eloquence of Cicero to a conflagration, on account of its splendor. Burke compares the parks of London to the lungs of the human body.

compare

In addition to the idiom beginning with compare, also see beyond compare.