COMPARATIVE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Comparative

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kəmpˈɛrətɪv/ Listen

adjective

Comparative adj.

1.

Of or pertaining to comparison. "The comparative faculty."

2.

Proceeding from, or by the method of, comparison; as, the comparative sciences; the comparative anatomy.

3.

Estimated by comparison; relative; not positive or absolute, as compared with another thing or state. "The recurrence of comparative warmth and cold." "The bubble, by reason of its comparative levity to the fluid that incloses it, would necessarily ascend to the top."

4.

(Gram.) Expressing a degree greater or less than the positive degree of the quality denoted by an adjective or adverb. The comparative degree is formed from the positive by the use of -er, more, or less; as, brighter, more bright, or less bright.

Comparative sciences, those which are based on a comprehensive comparison of the range of objects or facts in any branch or department, and which aim to study out and treat of the fundamental laws or systems of relation pervading them; as, comparative anatomy, comparative physiology, comparative philology.

noun

Comparative n. (Gram.)

1.

The comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs; also, the form by which the comparative degree is expressed; as, stronger, wiser, weaker, more stormy, less windy, are all comparatives. "In comparatives is expressed a relation of two; as in superlatives there is a relation of many."

2.

An equal; a rival; a compeer. (Obs.) "Gerard ever was His full comparative."

3.

One who makes comparisons; one who affects wit. (Obs.) "Every beardless vain comparative."

See images of 'Comparative'

Etymology of 'Comparative'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Comparative" Quotes from Famous Books

... to England has been made under extremely trying and painful circumstances. I had expected no participation in any social functions. I had communicated with only a very few near and dear friends. Formal intercourse with comparative ...

— Memories of Jane Cunningham Croly, "Jenny June" • Various

... midnight the storm abated, and allowed us to pass the remainder of the night in comparative comfort. The morning broke fair, and as the state of the horses would not permit us to attempt ascending the mountain with the baggage to-day, I contented myself with dispatching them for the provisions left last night at the bottom of the precipice, and to get up ...

— Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales • John Oxley

... measures, frequent repetitions of the same thought. The intellectual ear grasps all that easily, and amuses itself with the comparison of themes which are repeated in the same or in changed forms. We, on the contrary, nearly always listen to music with a dreamy, seldom with an intellectually comparative ear; therefore modern music is much more influential, but also much more dangerous, than the old. Musical pieces increase in length from year to year, in order that, during the performance of them, one ...

— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. VIII • Various

... black. Breakfast was eaten in comparative silence, and after the meal was concluded, at Frank's suggestion, it was decided to explore the island for a spring that could be tapped for further water supply. The boys all admitted to themselves that the chance of finding one was remote, but they ...

— The Boy Aviators' Polar Dash - Or - Facing Death in the Antarctic • Captain Wilbur Lawton

... higher than it really is: the illusion in the former case being due to the singular slope of its contours, and the remarkable breadth of its base, occupying nearly all the northern end of the island; in the latter, to misconception of the comparative height of the eminence you have reached, which deceives by the precipitous pitch of its sides. Pele is not very remarkable in point of altitude, however: its height was estimated by Moreau de Jonnes at 1600 metres; and by others at between 4400 and 4500 feet. The sum of ...

— Two Years in the French West Indies • Lafcadio Hearn

Copyright © 2026 Free-Translator.com