Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Comparison?

\Com*par"i*son\ (? or ?), n. [F. comparaison, L. comparatio. See 1st {Compare}.] 1. The act of comparing; an examination of two or more objects with the view of discovering the resemblances or differences; relative estimate. As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them. --Macaulay. The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison. --Trench. 2. The state of being compared; a relative estimate; also, a state, quality, or relation, admitting of being compared; as, to bring a thing into comparison with another; there is no comparison between them. 3. That to which, or with which, a thing is compared, as being equal or like; illustration; similitude. Whereto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it? --Mark iv. 30. 4. (Gram.) The modification, by inflection or otherwise, which the adjective and adverb undergo to denote degrees of quality or quantity; as, little, less, least, are examples of comparison. 5. (Rhet.) A figure by which one person or thing is compared to another, or the two are considered with regard to some property or quality, which is common to them both; e.g., the lake sparkled like a jewel. 6. (Phren.) The faculty of the reflective group which is supposed to perceive resemblances and contrasts. {Beyond comparison}, so far superior as to have no likeness, or so as to make comparison needless. {In comparison of}, {In comparison with}, as compared with; in proportion to. [Archaic] ``So miserably unpeopled in comparison of what it once was.'' --Addison. {Comparison of hands} (Law), a mode of proving or disproving the genuineness of a signature or writing by comparing it with another proved or admitted to be genuine, in order to ascertain whether both were written by the same person. --Bouvier. --Burrill.
\Com*par"i*son\, v. t. To compare. [Obs.] --Wyclif.