/ kəmˈpærɪsn; NAmE / noun
1.
[ U ] comparison (with sb/sth) the process of comparing two or more people or things :
Comparison with other oil-producing countries is extremely interesting.
I enclose the two plans for comparison .
The education system bears / stands no comparison with that in many Eastern European countries (= it is not as good) .
2.
[ C ] comparison (of A and / to / with B) | comparison (between A and B) an occasion when two or more people or things are compared :
a comparison of the rail systems in Britain and France
comparisons between Britain and the rest of Europe
a comparison of men's salaries with those of women
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) .
a comparison of the brain to a computer (= showing what is similar)
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IDIOMS
- by comparison
- by / in comparison (with sb/sth)
- there's no comparison
—more at pale verb
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WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : from Old French comparesoun , from Latin comparatio(n-) , from comparare to pair, match, from compar like, equal, from com- with + par equal.