Word.ws English Dictionary

pale in comparison

pale in comparison verb: to appear small or unimportant in relation to something else.

Verb

pale in comparison (third-person singular simple present pales in comparison, present participle paling in comparison, simple past and past participle paled in comparison)

  1. (idiomatic) To appear small or unimportant in relation to something else.
    • Before Minecraft released The Nether Update in 2020, diamonds were the strongest material in the game. Leather, iron, and gold paled in comparison to the strength, durability, and protection diamond gear provided.2023 October 9, Zackerie Fairfax, “How to get Netherite in Minecraft – crafting guide and tips”, in Dexerto

Adjective

pale in comparison (comparative more pale in comparison, superlative most pale in comparison)

  1. (nonstandard) Synonym of pale in comparison.
    • This is pale in comparison to that.

Forms of pale in comparison

Verb
third-person singular presentpales in comparison
present participlepaling in comparison
past participlepaled in comparison
pastpaled in comparison
alternative formpale by comparison
Adjective
comparativemore pale in comparison
superlativemost pale in comparison

Questions about pale in comparison

What does pale in comparison mean?
Pale in comparison means to appear small or unimportant in relation to something else.
What part of speech is pale in comparison?
Pale in comparison can be a verb or an adjective.
What is the past tense of pale in comparison?
The past tense of pale in comparison is paled in comparison.

Words near pale in comparison in the dictionary

  1. pale foxes
  2. pale giant squirrel
  3. pale giant squirrels
  4. pale goldfinch
  5. pale goldfinches
  6. pale in comparison
  7. pale into insignificance
  8. pale juniper webworm
  9. pale juniper webworms
  10. pale maille
  11. pale male

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pale in comparison (page history and authors). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-pale in comparison.ogg.

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