• (America) IPA: /kəmˈpɛɹɪsən/, /kəmˈpæɹɪsən/
• (RP) IPA: /kəmˈpæɹɪsən/

comparison

1. The act of comparing or the state or process of being compared.

   to bring a thing into comparison with another;  there is no comparison between them

2. An evaluation of the similarities and differences of one or more things relative to some other or each-other.

   He made a careful comparison of the available products before buying anything.

   • 1841, Thomas Macaulay, Warren Hastings

     As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear a comparison with them.

   • The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604 ↗; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620 ↗:

     "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. […]"

3. With a negation, the state of being similar or alike.

   There really is no comparison between the performance of today's computers and those of a decade ago.

4. (grammar) The ability of adjectives and adverbs to form three degrees, as in hot, hotter, hottest.
5. That to which, or with which, a thing is compared, as being equal or like; illustration; similitude.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Mark 4:30 ↗:

     Whereto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it?

6. (rhetoric) A simile.
7. (phrenology) The faculty of the reflective group which is supposed to perceive resemblances and contrasts.

• French: comparaison
• German: Vergleich, Komparation
• Italian: comparazione
• Portuguese: comparação
• Russian: сравне́ние
• Spanish: comparación

• French: comparaison
• German: Vergleich, Abgleich, Gegenüberstellung
• Italian: comparazione
• Portuguese: comparação
• Russian: сравне́ние
• Spanish: comparación

• French: comparaison
• German: Abgleich, Vergleichbarkeit
• Portuguese: comparação
• Russian: сравне́ние
• Spanish: comparación (rhetoric)

• French: degré (degrees of comparison)
• German: Komparation, Steigerung
• Portuguese: comparação
• Russian: степень