equivalent
/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/
equivalent adjective: similar or identical in value, meaning or effect; virtually equal.
Adjective
equivalent (comparative more equivalent, superlative most equivalent)
- Similar or identical in value, meaning or effect; virtually equal.
- To burn calories, a thirty-minute jog is equivalent to a couple of hamburgers.
- For now to serve and to minister, servile and ministerial, are terms equivalent.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
- Synonyms:
- on a par, equipollent
- Of two sets, having a one-to-one correspondence.
- All enumerable sets are equivalent to each other, but not to any finite set.1950, E. Kamke, Theory of Sets, page 16
- Equivalent sets should, by rights, have the same "number" of elements. For this reason we sometimes say that equivalent sets have the same cardinality.2000, N. L. Carothers, Real Analysis, page 18
- Synonyms:
- equinumerous
- Relating to the corresponding elements of an equivalence relation.
- Of two categories, (informally) such that one is essentially a relabeling of the other; (formally) related by a pair of functors such the composition of the one with the other is naturally isomorphic to the identity functor.
- Having the equal ability to combine.
- Of a map, equal-area.
- Equal in measure but not admitting of superposition; applied to magnitudes.
- A square may be equivalent to a triangle.
Noun
equivalent (plural equivalents)
- Anything that is virtually equal to something else, or has the same value, force, etc.
- He owned that, if the Test Act were repealed, the Protestants were entitled to an equivalent, and went so far as to suggest several equivalents.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC
- Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" — except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.1977 April 18, Jimmy Carter, President's Address to the Nation on Proposed National Energy Policy
- An equivalent weight.
Verb
equivalent (third-person singular simple present equivalents, present participle equivalenting, simple past and past participle equivalented)
- To make equivalent to; to equal.
equivalent meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
equivalent in Hindi
- similar or identical in value
- समान samān, बराबर barābar
equivalent in Tamil
- இணைமாற்று, ஒப்பான, ஒத்த, சமமான, சமவலுவான, சம்மதிப்புள்ள
equivalent in Marathi
- equivalent, equal
- समान samān
equivalent in Urdu
- بدل, برابر, مساوی
More languagesFewer languages
- equivalent in Bengali
- সমতুল্য, সম, সমকক্ষ, একই
- equivalent in Telugu
- సమానము samānamu
- equivalent in Malayalam
- തത്തുല്യമായ, തുല്യബലമുള്ള, സമമൂല്യമായ
- equivalent in Kannada
- ಸಾಟಿಯಾದ, ಸರಿಯಾದ
- equivalent in Gujarati
- સમકક્ષ
- equivalent in Odia
- ସମତୁଲ୍ଯ଼, ସମତୁଲ୍ଯ, ସମତୁଲ୍ଯ଼ |
- equivalent in Nepali
- समतुल्य, समकक्ष
- equivalent in Tagalog
- katumbas, kapareho, kapantay, katimbang
- equivalent in Arabic
- مُعَادِل muʕādil
- equivalent in Persian
- برابر barâbar, هامال hâmâl, همارز ham-arz, همسنگ
- equivalent in Thai
- เทียบเท่า tîiap-tâu
Examples of equivalent in a sentence
- Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:
- Total activity levels in the lowest quartile were equivalent to walking for 49 minutes at roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) per hour daily.2024 November 15, Kristen Rogers, “Want to live an extra 5 to 10 years? Adopt this habit, study suggests”, in CNN, archived from the...
- Finite sets A and B are equivalent sets only when n(A) = n(B) i.e., the number of elements in A and B are equal.c. 2005, P N Gupta Kulbhushan, Comprehensive MCQ's in Mathematics, page 3:
- The equivalence theorem: If both M is equivalent to a subset N₁ of N and N is equivalent to a subset M₁ of M, then the sets M and N are equivalent to each other.2006, Joseph Breuer, Introduction to the Theory of Sets, page 41:
Synonyms of equivalent
Forms of equivalent
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more equivalent |
| superlative | most equivalent |
| alternative abbreviation | eq. |
| alternative form (obsolete) | æquivalent |
| Noun | |
| plural | equivalents |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | equivalents |
| present participle | equivalenting |
| past participle | equivalented |
| past | equivalented |
Origin of equivalent
From Latin aequivalentem, accusative singular of aequivalēns, present active participle of aequivaleō (“to be equivalent, have equal power”). By surface analysis, equi- + -valent. Mostly displaced native Middle English efenmete (See evenmete).
Words formed from equivalent
- background radiation equivalent time
- banana equivalent dose
- biequivalent
- bioequivalent
- carbon dioxide equivalent
- car equivalent unit
- cyberequivalent
- equivalent airspeed
- equivalent dose
- equivalentist
- equivalently
- equivalent potential temperature
- equivalent shaft horsepower
- equivalent variation
- equivalent weight
- flight-time equivalent dose
- forty-foot equivalent unit
- gramme equivalent
- inequivalent
- jeu de taquin equivalent
- macroequivalent
- microequivalent
- milliequivalent
- Morita-equivalent
- nanoequivalent
- nonequivalent
- non-union Mexican equivalent
- NP-equivalent
- osmoequivalent
- quasiequivalent
- row-equivalent
- space equivalent zone
- tissue equivalent material
- twenty-foot equivalent unit
- carbon dioxide-equivalent
- certainty equivalent
- dose equivalent
- electrochemical equivalent
- full-time equivalent
- gasoline-equivalent gallon
- gasoline gallon equivalent
- gram equivalent
- moisture equivalent
- pitting resistance equivalent number
- snow water equivalent
- TNT equivalent
- Turing equivalent
- water equivalent
Phrases with equivalent
Questions about equivalent
- What does equivalent mean?
- Equivalent means similar or identical in value, meaning or effect; virtually equal.
- What is equivalent in Hindi?
- Equivalent in Hindi is समान (samān), बराबर (barābar). See Equivalent meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use equivalent in a sentence?
- Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.
- What part of speech is equivalent?
- Equivalent can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce equivalent?
- Equivalent is pronounced /ɪˈkwɪvələnt/.
Words near equivalent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: equivalent (page history and authors); equivalent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); समान (Marathi) (page history and authors); equivalent (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); equivalent (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); equivalent (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); equivalent (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); equivalent (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); equivalent (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); equivalent (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-equivalent.ogg.
Cite this entry: “equivalent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/equivalent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
