Noun

(en noun)

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

:

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}

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

:

* (1800-1859)

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

*(Richard Chenevix Trench) (1807-1886)

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

*

*:"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."

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

:

(label) The ability of adjectives and adverbs to form three degrees, as in hot, hotter, hottest .

That to which, or with which, a thing is compared, as being equal or like; illustration; similitude.

*(Bible), (w) iv. 30

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

(label) A simile.

(label) The faculty of the reflective group which is supposed to perceive resemblances and contrasts.

Noun

(en-noun)

The act of varying; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan

, title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.

A related but distinct thing.

(nautical) The angular difference at the vessel between the direction of true north and magnetic north. Also called magnetic declination.

(board games) A line of play that differs from the original.

(music) A technique where material is repeated with alterations to the melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture, counterpoint or orchestration; but with some invariant characteristic, e.g. a ground bass.