comparative

Pluralcomparatives

1. 1
   adjective

   Relating to comparison or to the act of comparing things.

   The article offered a comparative discussion of the two economic models.

   His comparative remarks weighed the merits of each proposal in turn.

   Note

   The broadest sense, and the one closest to the word's roots: Middle English comparatif, through Middle French, from Latin comparātīvus, built on comparāre, "to compare." James Burnett's Of the Origin and Progress of Language (1773) credits some animals with "the comparative faculty," the power to set things side by side, deliberate, and judge between them. This is comparing as a mental act, before anyone turns it into a method.

2. 2
   adjective

   Based on comparing two or more things as a method of study.

   Comparative linguistics traces how related languages developed from a shared ancestor.

   Her research in comparative politics examines voting systems across several democracies.

   Note

   Here comparison becomes a discipline. Placed before the name of a field, the adjective turns that field into a method of working across cases: comparative anatomy, comparative literature, comparative law, a comparative study of two human species. It also describes tests run side by side, as in comparative trials of railway coaches. Unlike the general "relating to comparison" sense, this one implies a systematic procedure, not a passing remark.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The degree of an adjective or adverb used to compare two things, formed in English by adding -er or the word more, as in 'bigger' or 'more fully.'

   Adjectives like 'happy' form their comparative by changing to 'happier.'

   English often forms the comparative with 'more' for longer words, as in 'more careful.'

   Note

   A grammarian's term, also called the comparative degree. English has more than one kind. The comparative of superiority gives bigger and more fully, the comparative of equality gives as big and as fully, and the comparative of inferiority gives less big and less fully. Here the word names the degree itself, as in "the comparative of an adjective." The individual form is the word in that degree.

4. 4
   adjective

   Estimated or judged by comparison with something else; relative.

   She reached the ledge and rested in comparative safety.

   The new motor runs with comparative quiet beside the old one.

   Similarrelative

   Oppositeabsolute

   Note

   A hedging adjective: it grants a quality only when measured against something else. Comparative safety is safety next to what came before, not safety outright, and a comparative lack of heavyweight clashes means fewer than usual, not none. It pairs naturally with nouns of degree, such as warmth and cold in Whewell or levity in Bentley's rising bubble of 1692. Relative can usually stand in its place.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   An adjective or adverb that is in the comparative degree, such as 'bigger' or 'more quickly.'

   The paragraph used three comparatives: 'larger,' 'darker,' and 'heavier.'

   'Less expensive' works as a comparative just as 'cheaper' does.

   Note

   The countable word, not the abstract degree: a sentence can contain three comparatives, and the plural is regular. Bigger, less expensive and more quickly are each a comparative, whether built with an ending or with a separate word. Grammarians use this sense when pointing at items in a text. They use the degree itself when describing the pattern that produces those items.

6. 6
   nouncountableplural

   Information or figures used as a basis for making a comparison.

   Analysts pulled in regional comparatives before valuing the property.

   Without reliable comparatives, the figures meant little on their own.

   Similarcomparable, benchmark

   Note

   A word at home in financial reporting, and one that mostly works in the plural. Barry Smith's Introductory Financial Accounting and Reporting (2010) pairs comparatives with trend data, the outside figures that give a ratio its meaning. Without them, the analysis cannot reach firm conclusions. The singular exists, but in reports one usually meets "the comparatives" as a set.

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