1.
Something that is ~ to something else is roughly similar, for example in amount or importance.
...paying the same wages to men and women for work of ~ value...
Farmers were meant to get an income ~ to that of townspeople...
The risk it poses is ~ with smoking just one cigarette every year.
= similar
ADJ: oft ADJ to/with n
2.
If two or more things are ~, they are of the same kind or are in the same situation, and so they can reasonably be compared.
In other ~ countries real wages increased much more rapidly...
By contrast, the ~ figure for the Netherlands is 16 per cent...
= equivalent
ADJ