Comparative definition

kəm-părə-tĭv
An adjective or adverb expressing the comparative degree.
noun
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The comparative degree.
noun
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(obs.) A rival.
noun
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Estimated by comparison; relative.

A comparative newcomer.

adjective
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That compares; involving comparison as a method, esp. in a branch of study.

Comparative linguistics.

adjective
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Estimated by comparison with something else; relative.

A comparative success.

adjective
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(gram.) Designating or of the second degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs; expressing a greater degree of a quality or attribute than that expressed in the positive degree.
adjective
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The comparative degree.
noun
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A word or form in this degree.
noun
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Of or relating to comparison.
adjective
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Using comparison as a method of study, or founded on something using it.

Comparative anatomy.

adjective
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Approximated by comparison; relative.
adjective
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(grammar) Of, relating to, or being the intermediate degree of comparison of adjectives, as better, sweeter, or more wonderful, or adverbs, as more softly.
adjective
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Relating to, based on, or involving comparison.
adjective
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Of or relating to the scientific or historical comparison of different phenomena, institutions, or objects, such as languages, legal systems, or anatomical structures, in an effort to understand their origins or relationships.
adjective
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(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.
noun
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(grammar) A word in the comparative form.
noun
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The definition of comparative is a comparison or an assessment of similarities and differences between two or more things.

An example of something that would be described as comparative is a report you write on the relative merits of one book over another, a comparative book report.

adjective
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
comparative
Plural:
comparatives

Origin of comparative

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

    From Wiktionary

Comparative Sentence Examples

  • For the next seven or eight years he lived in comparative privacy.

  • The American engineer is more fortunately situated than his English brother with regard to the possibility of a solution, as will be seen from the comparative diagrams of construction gauges, figs.

  • That chapter of comparative anatomy (together with other anatomical details, for which see the separate articles) is now dealt with in the article Skull; here only the most avine features are alluded to, and since some of Parker's original illustrations have been retained, the description has been shortened considerably.

  • The result is a comparative table of likes and dislikes.

  • Brunn, whose comparative method in art-criticism he much developed.

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Related articles

Words near comparative in the Dictionary