English
equal
Etymology

From Middle English equal, from Latin aequālis.

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈiːkwəl/
  • (dialectal, archaic) IPA: /ˈiːkəl/
Adjective

equal (not comparable)

  1. (not comparable) The same in all respects.
    Equal conditions should produce equal results.
    All men are created equal.
    • 1705, George Cheyne, The Philosophical Principles of Religion Natural and Revealed:
      They who are not disposed to receive them may let them alone or reject them; it is equal to me.
  2. (mathematics, not comparable) Exactly identical, having the same value.
    All right angles are equal.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
      The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
  3. (obsolete) Fair, impartial.
    • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica:
      it could not but much redound to the lustre of your milde and equall Government, when as private persons are hereby animated to thinke ye better pleas'd with publick advice, then other statists have been delighted heretofore with publicke flattery.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Ezekiel 18:29 ↗:
      Are not my ways equal?
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗, stanza 35:
      Thee, O Jove, no equall judge I deem.
  4. (comparable) Adequate; sufficiently capable or qualified.
    This test is pretty tough, but I think I'm equal to it.
    • 1851 November 13, Herman Melville, chapter X, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC ↗:
      Here was a man some twenty thousand miles from home, by the way of Cape Horn, that is—which was the only way he could get there—thrown among people as strange to him as though he were in the planet Jupiter; and yet he seemed entirely at his ease; preserving the utmost serenity; content with his own companionship; always equal to himself.
    • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC ↗:
      her comprehension was certainly more equal to the covert meaning, the superior intelligence, of those five letters so arranged.
    • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC ↗:
      The Scots trusted not their own numbers as equal to fight with the English.
    • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
      much less is it in my power to make my commendations equal to your merits.
    • 1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      […] whose voice an equal messenger / Conveyed thy meaning mild.
  5. (obsolete) Not variable; equable; uniform; even.
    an equal movement
    • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC ↗:
      an equal temper
  6. (music) Intended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female; not mixed.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Verb

equal (third-person singular simple present equals, present participle (Commonwealth) equalling or (US) equaling, simple past and past participle (Commonwealth) equalled or (US) equaled)

  1. (mathematics, copulative) To be equal to, to have the same value as; to correspond to.
    Two plus two equals four.
  2. (transitive) To make equivalent to; to cause to match.
    David equaled the water levels of the bottles, so they now both contain exactly 1 liter.
  3. (transitive) To match in degree or some other quality, to match up to.
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, Canto XLI, page 64 ↗:
      And what delights can equal those
      ⁠That stir the spirit’s inner deeps,
      ⁠When one that loves but knows not, reaps
      A truth from one that loves and knows?
  4. (copulative, informal) To have as consequence, to amount to, to mean.
    Losing this deal equals losing your job.
    Might does not equal right.
Synonyms Translations Translations Noun

equal

  1. A person or thing of equal status to others.
    We're all equals here.
    This beer has no equal.
    • 1712 January 4 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, December 24, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 256; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC ↗:
      Those who were once his equals envy and defame him.
      The spelling has been modernized.
  2. (obsolete) State of being equal; equality.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC ↗:
      Thou that presum'st to weigh the world anew,
      And all things to an equall to restore.
Synonyms
  • (person or thing of equal status to others) peer
Translations Related terms

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