compare

Less common meanings

4. 4
   noununcountable

   Comparison, or the possibility of it; now used mainly in beyond compare and without compare, said of something that has no equal.

   The cathedral's stained glass is beautiful beyond compare.

   In her field she stood without compare for nearly two decades.

   UsageNo a or the in these phrases. For the everyday noun, use comparison: make a comparison.

   Similarcomparison

   Note

   The noun survives mainly in set phrases of praise: beyond compare, without compare, and Milton's "strong above compare" in Samson Agonistes. Edmund Waller's "may not hold compare with our tall ships" shows a freer, older construction.

5. 5
   grammarverbtransitive

   To form the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees of an adjective.

   Irregular adjectives cannot be compared with endings; 'good,' for example, has the forms better and best.

   When you compare a long adjective such as 'beautiful,' you use 'more' and 'most' instead of adding endings.

   Note

   To a grammarian, comparing an adjective means running it through positive, comparative and superlative. Most adjectives do this with a suffix (tall, taller, tallest) or with more and most. Good is the classic exception, jumping to better and best. The "degrees of comparison" are simply the forms this verb produces. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Adjectives have positive, comparative and superlative forms. our-languages.canada.ca
   • Regular adjective comparison uses suffixes or more and most; tall, taller, tallest illustrates suffixation. learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org
   • Good has the irregular comparative better and superlative best. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   nounobsoleteuncountable

   Illustration of an idea by means of comparison; a simile.

   Rhymes full of protest, of oath, and big compare.

   c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”

   Note

   In Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare's "big compare" is a grand simile: the figure itself, not the act of comparing. Rhymes "full of protest, of oath, and big compare" are lovers' verses stuffed with extravagant likenesses. Don't confuse it with the noun of "beyond compare", which names comparison as a measure. This one is a piece of rhetoric, and it is obsolete. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida contains the quoted words; Troilus speaks them in Act III, scene ii. en.wiktionary.org
   • Here compare means a rhetorical likeness or simile, rather than the act of comparing. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quoted rhymes are lovers' verses containing elaborate comparisons. folger.edu
   • The noun in beyond compare denotes comparison as a standard or measure. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   verbobsolete

   To get hold of or obtain something.

   To fill his bags, and richesse to compare.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

   Note

   A Latin meaning that slipped into English and then died out. It echoes comparare in the sense "to prepare, procure", not the idea of setting things side by side. Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) has "To fill his bags, and richesse to compare," where compare means amass, not weigh. A reader meeting it in early verse should read "get." It has no place in modern writing. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • The obsolete English sense has a Latin origin. en.wiktionary.org
   • Latin comparare has the preparation and procurement senses distinguished here from comparison. en.wiktionary.org
   • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene, whose first three books were first published in 1590. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted line occurs in The Faerie Queene. gutenberg.org
   • Compare in this passage means acquire or get wealth, hence amass. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   noun

   A program instruction that tests two values or states against each other.