Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Relating to, based on, or involving comparison.
- adj. Of or relating to the scientific or historical comparison of different phenomena, institutions, or objects, such as languages, legal systems, or anatomical structures, in an effort to understand their origins or relationships.
- adj. Estimated by comparison; relative: a comparative newcomer.
- adj. Grammar Of, relating to, or being the intermediate degree of comparison of adjectives, as better, sweeter, or more wonderful, or adverbs, as more softly.
- n. Grammar The comparative degree.
- n. Grammar An adjective or adverb expressing the comparative degree.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Estimated by comparison; not positive or absolute; relative.
- Proceeding by comparison; founded on comparison; especially, founded on the comparison or the parallel pursuit of different branches of the same science or study: as, comparative anatomy; comparative grammar.
- Making use of comparison or the comparative method.
- Having the power of comparing; capable of noting similarities and differences.
- In grammar, implying comparison; denoting a higher degree of a quality, relation, etc., as belonging to one object or set of objects as compared with another. Applied to derived adjective-forms like greater, smaller, blacker, or (much more rarely) to adverb-forms like oftener, sooner; such are called
comparative adjectives or adverbs, or they are said to be in or of the comparative degree; the primitives great, often, etc., being called, in relation to them, positives, or of the positive degree, and the derived forms greatest, oftenest, etc., superlatives, or of the superlative degree. See these words, and comparison. - n. One who is equal or pretends to be an equal; a rival; a competitor.
- n. In grammar, the comparative degree, or a word expressing it. See I., 5.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or relating to comparison.
- adj. Using comparison as a method of study, or founded on something using it.
- adj. Approximated by comparison; relative.
- adj. obsolete Comparable; bearing comparison.
- n. grammar A construction showing a relative quality, in English usually formed by adding more or appending -er. For example, the comparative of green is greener; of evil, more evil.
- n. grammar A word in the comparative form.
- n. obsolete An equal; a rival; a compeer.
- n. obsolete One who makes comparisons; one who affects wit.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to comparison.
- adj. Proceeding from, or by the method of, comparison.
- adj. Estimated by comparison; relative; not positive or absolute, as compared with another thing or state.
- adj. (Gram.) Expressing a degree greater or less than the positive degree of the quality denoted by an adjective or adverb. The comparative degree is formed from the positive by the use of
-er ,more , orless . - n. (Gram.) The comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs; also, the form by which the comparative degree is expressed.
- n. obsolete An equal; a rival; a compeer.
- n. obsolete One who makes comparisons; one who affects wit.
WordNet 3.0
Etymologies
- Originated 1400–50 from late Middle English comparative, from Latin comparativus, equivalent to comparatus, from comparare ("to compare") + -ive, from Latin -ivus. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“She said South Africa could play a pivotal role to promote cooperation because the country enjoyed what she called comparative advantages over many African countries.”
“Altruism and honesty among different cultures are difficult to measure and compare, but in 2003 a University of Michigan Law School professor conducted what he called a comparative study on recovering lost property in the United States and Japan.”
“The UCC has been pressing for the creation of a Holodomor gallery that receives "no less coverage" than the Holocaust, while the UCCLA feels all genocides should be explored throughout the entire museum in what it calls a "comparative, thematic and inclusive manner.”
“All my days had been passed in comparative ignorance of the animality of man.”
“Ummm, maybe you speak French already, what with having a doctorate in comparative literature from Stanford, but we will teach it to you with a certain je ne sais quoi that is irreplaceable.”
“You have a degree in comparative literature from Harvard but dropped out before getting your Ph.D. from Yale.”
“Grossman holds degrees in comparative literature from Harvard and Yale.”
“Batuman went on to complete her doctorate in comparative literature at Stanford University, where she currently teaches in the Interdisciplinary Humanities program.”
“In 1993, Hatch, along with 20 other GOP senators — including Grassley, Bennett, and Bond — introduced a health care plan that would have required everyone to buy coverage, capped awards for medical malpractice lawsuits, established minimum benefit packages and invested in comparative effectiveness research.”
“Seems to me the boom in comparative economics of late is an attempt to scare us into rejecting health care reform and safety nets.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘comparative’.
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A-R-A Words
It's an odd-looking pattern in English. Please add words if it makes you happy. :) K-POW! Wow @gulyasrobi!
scarab, Arawak, Sahara, Arab, pharaoh, caravan, carat, parachute, arachnid, Saran Wrap, Sarah, tarantella and 492 more...
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Language
word, sentence, novel, book, novella, vignette, memoir, anthology, paragraph, stanza, poem, haiku and 123 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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Transcendentalism (Thoreau)
A list of words from our Thoreau readings.
simplicity, Aurora, vigor, Memnon, somnolence, servitor, simplify, supernumerary, sentinel, rudiment, Veda, Saint Vitus and 43 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Words about words
Most of these describe word patterns or relationships between words.
panvocalic, palindrome, anagram, transposition, antigram, reversal, isogram, alternade, trinade, beheadment, decapitation, apheresis and 149 more...
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English grammar
terms relevant to English grammar
phrase, clause, sentence, complement, modifier, adjunct, specifier, constituent, syntax, bar level, supplement, coordination and 285 more...
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2007bee-r02
2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee Round 2
query, tendency, danceable, parachute, malignant, brutal, humanely, lyrically, deductible, shindig, gravel, embroidered and 274 more...
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a case of cases
evoking a kind of heavy chest of drawers, for me. Latin (and German) at 11; now Finnish, and a fascination for what else is out there.
Entering all these, I did have to struggle not t...nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, vocative, locative, partitive, inessive, elative, illative, adessive and 62 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for comparative.
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