compare

compare is a Verb

Definition:

[1] To examine the character or qualities of, as of two or more persons or things, for the purpose of discovering their resemblances or differences; to bring into comparison; to regard with discriminating attention. Compare dead happiness with living woe. Shak. The place he found beyond expression bright, Compared with aught on earth. Milton. Compare our faces and be judge yourself. Shak. To compare great things with small. Milton.

[2] To represent as similar, for the purpose of illustration; to liken. Solon compared the people unto the sea, and orators and counselors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet if the winds did not trouble it. Bacon.

[3] To inflect according to the degrees of comparison; to state positive, comparative, and superlative forms of; as, most adjectives of one syllable are compared by affixing "-er" and "-est" to the positive form; as, black, blacker, blackest; those of more than one syllable are usually compared by prefixing "more" and "most", or "less" and "least", to the positive; as, beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful.