compared; comparing
1
: to represent as similar : liken
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?—
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare2
a
: to examine the character or qualities of especially in order to discover resemblances or differences
compare your responses with the answers
b
: to view in relation to
He is tall compared to me.
The test was easy compared with the last one.
3
: to inflect or modify (an adjective or adverb) according to the degrees of comparison : state the positive, comparative, and superlative forms of
1
: to bear being compared
The two don't even begin to compare.
We bought two different brands of peanut butter to see how they compare.
2
: to make comparisons
If we now go to Italy at all, we go not to learn, but to compare.—Norman Douglas
Norman Douglas3
: to be equal or alike
Nothing compares to you.
Examples of compare in a Sentence
Verb
The singer's voice has been compared to that of Elvis.
We each did the homework assignment, then compared answers.
I compared several bicycles before buying one.
Recent Examples on the Web
Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 14 Nov. 2024
In San Francisco, for example, officials received 60 reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans in 2021, compared with the nine in 2020.
—Kimmy Yam, NBC News, 13 Nov. 2024
Dave Altavilla, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024
The promise of what Lunar Lake will deliver was very strong, so much so that competitors like Qualcomm immediately began picking apart some of the compares.
—Dave Altavilla, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for compare 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Verb
So far this year, these leading firms have returned almost 43%, compared with 36% for the index as a whole.
—Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 14 Nov. 2024
In San Francisco, for example, officials received 60 reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans in 2021, compared with the nine in 2020.
—Kimmy Yam, NBC News, 13 Nov. 2024
Noun
In this compare, Intel actually takes a lower power SKU of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 that has no dual-core boost, and compares it to their high end Core Ultra 9 288V, though the system specs do note a generous 75Whr battery for all machines.
—Dave Altavilla, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024
The promise of what Lunar Lake will deliver was very strong, so much so that competitors like Qualcomm immediately began picking apart some of the compares.
—Dave Altavilla, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for compare
Articles Related to compare
Dictionary Entries Near compare
Cite this Entry
“Compare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compare. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
compare
1 of 2 verb
com·pare
kəm-ˈpa(ə)r 
-ˈpe(ə)r
compared; comparing
1
: to describe as similar
compare an anthill to a town
2
: to examine in order to discover likenesses or differences
compare two bicycles
3
a
: to be worthy of comparison
roller-skating does not compare with ice-skating
b
: to appear in comparison to others
compares well with the rest of the class
4
: to inflect or modify (an adjective or adverb) according to the degrees of comparison
compare
2 of 2 noun
: the possibility of comparing
beauty beyond compare
Etymology
Verb
Middle English comparen "to show to be similar, examine for points of likeness," from early French comparer (same meaning), from Latin comparare "to couple, compare," from compar (adjective) "like, similar," from com- "with, together" and par "equal" — related to pair, par, peer, umpire see Word History at umpire
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share