equals

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of equal.

   In this puzzle, three plus four equals seven.

   His latest lap time equals the world record.

   Note

   The -s form agrees with a single subject, and in arithmetic the whole sum counts as one: three plus four equals seven. It carries every sense of the verb. A lap time equals a record by matching it, and in informal speech one thing equals another when it amounts to it. No preposition follows: a sum equals seven, never equals to seven.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of equal.

   The two scholars debated as equals before the committee.

   He refused special treatment and asked to be counted among equals.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the person-or-thing noun: people of the same standing, or things of the same worth. It sits most naturally after as or among, as in debating as equals or being counted among equals. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb (four equals seven) and the name of the symbol. The plural noun is the one that follows a preposition or determiner.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The symbol =, used to indicate that the two expressions on either side have the same value.

   The teacher reminded students to place an equals between the two expressions.

   Each equals in the proof marks two quantities as identical.

   Note

   A mathematician's noun that looks plural but is not. The -s belongs to the name, so it takes singular words like a and each: place an equals between the two sides, and each equals in the proof marks a match. The name matches the way the symbol is read aloud, where it becomes the verb form.

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