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Constant vs Equal - What's the difference?

constant | equal |

In obsolete terms the difference between constant and equal

is that constant is consistent; logical while equal is state of being equal; equality.

As adjectives the difference between constant and equal

is that constant is unchanged through time or space; permanent while equal is the same in all respects.

As nouns the difference between constant and equal

is that constant is that which is permanent or invariable while equal is a person or thing of equal status to others.

As a verb equal is

to be equal to, to have the same value as; to correspond to.

constant

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Unchanged through time or space; permanent.
  • Consistently recurring over time; persistent.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-11-16, volume=409, issue=8862, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter
  • , title= The mindfulness business , passage=The constant pinging of electronic devices is driving many people to the end of their tether. Electronic devices not only overload the senses and invade leisure time. They feed on themselves: the more people tweet the more they are rewarded with followers and retweets.}}
  • Steady in purpose, action, feeling, etc.
  • * Sir (Philip Sidney) (1554-1586)
  • Both loving one fair maid, they yet remained constant friends.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • I am constant to my purposes.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gained.
  • Firm; solid; not fluid.
  • * (Robert Boyle) (1627-1691)
  • Ifyou mix them, you may turn these two fluid liquors into a constant body.
  • (obsolete) Consistent; logical.
  • * Shakespeare, Twelfth Night IV.ii
  • I am no more mad than you are: make the trial of it with any constant question.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That which is permanent or invariable.
  • (algebra) A quantity that remains at a fixed value throughout a given discussion.
  • (science) Any property of an experiment, determined numerically, that does not change under given circumstances.
  • (computing) An identifier that is bound to an invariant value; a fixed value given a name to aid in readability of source code.
  • See also

    * (computing) literal ----

    equal

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic) * (archaic)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (label) The same in all respects.
  • * (1671-1743)
  • They who are not disposed to receive them may let them alone or reject them; it is equal to me.
  • Exactly identical, having the same value.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=10 , passage=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.}}
  • (label) Fair, impartial.
  • * 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :
  • 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.
  • * Bible, (w) xviii. 29
  • Are not my ways equal ?
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • Thee, O Jove, no equal judge I deem.
  • (label) Adequate; sufficiently capable or qualified.
  • * 1881 , (Jane Austen), , p. 311
  • her comprehension was certainly more equal to the covert meaning, the superior intelligence, of those five letters so arranged.
  • * (1609-1674)
  • The Scots trusted not their own numbers as equal to fight with the English.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • It is not permitted to me to make my commendations equal to your merit.
  • * (Ralph Waldo Emerson) (1803-1882)
  • whose voice an equal messenger / Conveyed thy meaning mild.
  • (label) Not variable; equable; uniform; even.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • an equal temper
  • (label) Intended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female; not mixed.
  • Usage notes

    *

    Synonyms

    * (the same in all respects) identical * (exactly identical) equivalent, identical * (unvarying) even, fair, uniform, unvarying

    Verb

  • (mathematics) To be equal to, to have the same value as; to correspond to.
  • Two plus two equals four.
  • To be equivalent to; to match
  • * 2004 , Mary Levy and Jim Kelly, Marv Levy: Where Else Would You Rather Be?
  • There was an even more remarkable attendance figure that underscores the devotion exhibited by our fans, because it was in 1991 that they set a single season in-stadium attendance record that has never been equaled .
  • (informal) To have as its consequence.
  • Losing this deal equals losing your job.
    Might does not equal right.

    Synonyms

    * (to be equal to) be, is * (sense) entail, imply, lead to, mean, result in, spell

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person or thing of equal status to others.
  • We're all equals here.
    This beer has no equal .
  • * Addison
  • Those who were once his equals envy and defame him.
  • (obsolete) State of being equal; equality.
  • (Spenser)

    Synonyms

    * (person or thing of equal status to others) peer

    Derived terms

    * equally * equalize/equalise * unequal * equal temperament

    Statistics

    *