comparative

From Middle French comparatif, from Latin comparativus, equivalent to comparatus, from comparare (“to compare”) + -ive, from Latin -ivus.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpɛɹ.ə.tɪv/
• (Received Pronunciation, northeastern US, older southern US) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpæɹ.ə.tɪv/
• Hyphenation: com‧par‧a‧tive

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comparative (comparative more comparative, superlative most comparative)

1. Of or relating to comparison.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   • Granvill

     the comparative faculty

2. Using comparison as a method of study, or founded on something using it.

   comparative anatomy

3. Approximated by comparison; relative.
   • 2016 October 24, Owen Gibson, “Is the unthinkable happening – are people finally switching the football off?”, in The Guardian‎, London:

     The Olympics, the weather and a comparative lack of heavyweight clashes so far this season have been cited as reasons for the drop in viewers.

   • Whewell

     The recurrence of comparative warmth and cold.

   • Bentley

     The bubble, by reason of its comparative levity to the fluid that encloses it, would necessarily ascend to the top.

4. (obsolete) Comparable; bearing comparison.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.137:

     And need he had of slumber yet, for none / Had suffered more—his hardships were comparative / To those related in my grand-dad's Narrative.

comparative (plural comparatives)

1. (grammar) A construction showing a relative quality, in English usually formed by adding more or appending -er. For example, the comparative of green is greener; of evil, more evil.
2. (grammar) A word in the comparative form.
3. (chiefly in the plural) Data used to make a comparison.
   • 2010, Barry Smith, Introductory Financial Accounting and Reporting (page 171)

     Investment ratios are positive. Comparative or trend data are required to draw final conclusions. The absence of comparatives and trend data constrains the conclusions.

4. (obsolete) An equal; a rival; a compeer.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     Gerard ever was / His full comparative.

5. (obsolete) One who makes comparisons; one who affects wit.
   • William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Pt. 1 (1597), III.ii.67:

     Every beardless vain comparative.

• (grammar: degree): comparative degree

• absolute, absolute superlative, relative superlative, comparative superlative
• degrees of comparison
• superlative

• contrastive

• “comparative” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “comparative” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "comparative" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.

• vampire taco

comparative

1. feminine singular of comparatif

comparative

1. feminine plural of comparativo

• comparivate
• crepitavamo

comparātīve

1. vocative masculine singular of comparātīvus

• comparative in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press