comparable

Etymology

From Middle English comparable, from Middle French comparable, from Latin comparābilis.

adj

1. (often with to) Able to be compared (to).
   An elephant is comparable in size to a double-decker bus.
   You can't say that robbing a bank is like pickpocketing. The two are just not comparable.
   As yet, we don't know what the comparable figures will be like for the current financial year which ends in March 2022, but we can have a good stab at approximating them. January 12 2022, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22
2. (often with to) Similar (to); like.
   Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer. 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist
3. (mathematics) Constituting a pair in a particular partial order.
   Six and forty-two are comparable in the divides order, but six and nine are not.
4. (grammar) Said of an adjective that has comparative and superlative forms.
   "Big" is a comparable adjective, since it can take the forms "bigger" and "biggest"; but "unique" is not comparable, except in disputed, but common, usage.

noun

1. Something suitable for comparison.
   And the appraiser said he couldn't come up with comparables, because there hadn't been any sales nearby in several months. January 2 2009, Fred A. Bernstein, “Catskill Home Prices: How Low Will They Go?”, in New York Times