comparing

Verb

compare (third-person singular simple present compares, present participle comparing, simple past and past participle compared)

1. (transitive) To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it similar to Y or different from Y.
   • Compare the tiger's coloration with that of the zebra.

   Synonyms:

   set against, weigh against, collate

2. (transitive) To declare two things to be similar in some respect [“to compare X to Y”].
   • Astronomers have compared comets to dirty snowballs.

   Synonyms:

   liken

3. (transitive) To form the three degrees of comparison of (an adjective).
   • We compare “good” as “good”, “better”, “best”.
4. (intransitive) To be similar (often used in the negative).
   • A sapling and a fully-grown oak tree do not compare.
5. (obsolete) To get; to obtain.
   • To fill his bags, and richesse to compare.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28

See all 8 meanings of compare