- [uncountable] the process of comparing two or more people or things
- For Durkheim, comparison was the most important method of analysis in sociology.
- comparison with somebody/something Comparison with other oil-producing countries is extremely interesting.
- The two situations bear no comparison (= they are not at all similar).
- for comparison I enclose the two plans for comparison.
Extra Examples- Let's put them side by side for comparison.
- Our problems don't bear comparison with those elsewhere.
- The pandemic in some respects stands comparison with the Great Fire of London in 1666
- The similarity between the two invites comparison.
- a price-comparison site
- to provide a basis for comparison
- One of the groups serves as a comparison group or ‘control’ for the other.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- favourable/favorable
- unfavourable/unfavorable
- fair
- …
- draw
- make
- perform
- …
- by comparison (with)
- for comparison
- in comparison to
- …
- a basis for comparison
- a point of comparison
- for the purposes of comparison
- …
Definitions on the go
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- [countable] an occasion when two or more people or things are compared
- The films are too different for a fair comparison.
- comparison of A and B a comparison of the rail systems in Britain and France
- comparison of A with B a comparison of men’s salaries with those of women
- comparison between A and B comparisons between Britain and the rest of Europe
- comparison of A to B a comparison of the brain to a computer (= showing what is similar)
- comparison with somebody/something It is difficult to make a comparison with her previous book—they are completely different.
- You can draw comparisons with the situation in Ireland (= say how the two situations are similar).
- There is no published information that would allow a direct comparison with other regions or countries.
Language Bank similarlysimilarlyMaking comparisons- This chart provides a comparison of the ways that teenage boys and girls in the UK spend their free time.
- In many cases, the results for boys and girls are virtually the same/identical.
- In many cases, the results for boys are virtually the same as/identical to the results for girls.
- Both boys and girls spend the bulk of their free time with friends.
- Most of the boys do more than two hours of sport a week, as do many of the girls.
- Like many of the girls, most of the boys spend a large part of their free time using the internet.
- The girls particularly enjoy using social networking websites. Similarly, nearly all the boys said they spent at least two to three hours a week on these sites.
Extra Examples- a comparison with other schools
- a comparison of unemployment rates over the past 15 years
- a comparison between figures for last year and this year
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- favourable/favorable
- unfavourable/unfavorable
- fair
- …
- draw
- make
- perform
- …
- by comparison (with)
- for comparison
- in comparison to
- …
- a basis for comparison
- a point of comparison
- for the purposes of comparison
- …
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French comparesoun, from Latin comparatio(n-), from comparare ‘to pair, match’, from compar ‘like, equal’, from com- ‘with’ + par ‘equal’.
Idioms
See comparison in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee comparison in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishby comparison
- used especially at the beginning of a sentence when the next thing that is mentioned is compared with something in the previous sentence
- By comparison, expenditure on education increased last year.
- His problems seemed trivial by comparison.
by/in comparison (with somebody/something)
- when compared with somebody/something
- The second half of the game was dull by comparison with the first.
- The tallest buildings in London are small in comparison with New York's skyscrapers.
Extra Examples- The glasses are small in comparison with the old ones.
- Jane is still quite young, and Fiona seems old by comparison.
pale beside/next to something | pale in/by comparison (with/to something) | pale into insignificance
- to seem less important when compared with something else
- Last year's riots pale in comparison with this latest outburst of violence.
- Our problems pale into insignificance when compared to theirs.
there’s no comparison
- used to emphasize the difference between two people or things that are being compared
- In terms of price there's no comparison (= one thing is much more expensive than the other).
Check pronunciation:
comparison