Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Measurable by a common standard.
  • adjective Commensurate; proportionate.
  • adjective Mathematics Exactly divisible by the same unit an integral number of times. Used of two quantities.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having a common measure; reducible to a common measure.
  • Suitable in measure; adapted.
  • Measurable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having a common measure; capable of being exactly measured by the same number, quantity, or measure.
  • adjective (Math.) those that can be exactly expressed by some common unit; thus a foot and yard are commensurable, since both can be expressed in terms of an inch, one being 12 inches, the other 36 inches.
  • adjective those whose squares are commensurable.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Able to be measured using a common standard
  • adjective Related in size or scale; commensurate or proportionate
  • adjective mathematics (of two numbers) Exactly divisible by the same number an integer number of times WP

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective capable of being measured by a common standard

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin commēnsūrābilis : Latin com-, com- + mēnsūrābilis, measurable (from mēnsūrāre, to measure; see commensurate).]

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Examples

  • Now that which is of divine birth has a period which is contained in a perfect number, but the period of human birth is comprehended in a number in which first increments by involution and evolution (or squared and cubed) obtaining three intervals and four terms of like and unlike, waxing and waning numbers, make all the terms commensurable and agreeable to one another.

    The Republic by Plato ; translated by Benjamin Jowett 2006

  • Now that which is of divine birth has a period which is contained in a perfect number, but the period of human birth is comprehended in a number in which first increments by involution and evolution (or squared and cubed) obtaining three intervals and four terms of like and unlike, waxing and waning numbers, make all the terms commensurable and agreeable to one another.

    The Republic of Plato Plato 1763

  • Thinking of the U.S. government's role at home in terms commensurable with notions of "the new way of war" and "market states" is no less ludicrous for being logical.

    Claremont.org 2009

  • Productivity gains were in fact what lead to ever increasing amounts of disposable income for more than 100 years, but, by comparing housing costs, which is commensurable in regards to productivity because each of these sectors has had little influence from recent technological innovations, it becomes easier to understand how much influence ag subsidies have had.

    Matthew Yglesias » A Better Poverty Measure 2010

  • It is only as expressions of such a unit that they are of the same denomination, and therefore commensurable.

    A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2010

  • It is only as expressions of such a unit that they are of the same denomination, and therefore commensurable.

    skzbrust: Capital Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 1 Section 3A2. skzbrust 2010

  • For good reasons, developing nations reject cap-and-trade solutions, in part because it is impossible to define comparable cap-and-trade policies for radically differing economies in a fair manner; emission taxes would be much more commensurable between different economies.

    The Advantages of an Emissions Tax 2011

  • The more important thing I think gets lost here is that we sometimes care about dimensions of our experience beyond the pure quantity of satisfaction we get from it, to the extent that varied experiences are commensurable enough to talk coherently about “satisfaction” in some consistent way across the cases.

    In Search of Higher Pleasures 2007

  • I think the other key thing to norms is that they generally have an associated value that is not utility-based/commensurable. norms are tied to these non-commensurate values, whereas conventions may be tied to some utility calculation, but as you note, hold no system of sanction that would indicate a value.

    What is a norm? Daniel Little 2009

  • Neufeld's words and images are commensurable and rhythmic, and the vernacular is sharp.

    A.D.: The Post with the Quotes - Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, and Games 2009

Comments

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  • I was surprised to find that this is actually a word. I'd always used commensurate, which basically has the same meaning.

    October 3, 2007

  • It sounds like it should end sooner, doesn't it?

    October 3, 2007