Definition of "comparison" []

• The act of comparing or the process of being compared. (noun)
• A statement or estimate of similarities and differences. (noun)
• The quality of being similar or equivalent; likeness: no comparison between the two books. (noun)
• Grammar The modification or inflection of an adjective or adverb to denote the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees, as in English, along with the equative degree in certain other languages, such as Irish Gaelic. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Biology -- _Comparative Anatomy_; but I would ask whether _comparison_, and that classification which is the result of comparison, are not the essence of every science whatsoever?"
• "_comparison_; there are two degrees of comparison, the comparative, which increases or diminishes the quality, is formed by adding _er_ to the adjective in its positive state; the superlative increases or diminishes the comparative to its last degree, and is formed by adding"
• "The UK, in comparison, is inferior – we can only muster an A3."