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Equal vs Worthy - What's the difference?

equal | worthy |

As adjectives the difference between equal and worthy

is that equal is (label) the same in all respects while worthy is having worth, merit or value.

As verbs the difference between equal and worthy

is that equal is (mathematics) to be equal to, to have the same value as; to correspond to while worthy is to render or treat as worthy; exalt; revere; honour; esteem; respect; value; reward; adore.

As nouns the difference between equal and worthy

is that equal is a person or thing of equal status to others while worthy is a distinguished or eminent person.

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

    Related terms

    * equality

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words

    worthy

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) worthy, wurthi, from (etyl) *.

    Adjective

    (er)
  • having worth, merit or value
  • * Shakespeare
    • These banished men that I have kept withal / Are men endued with worthy qualities.
  • * Sir J. Davies
    • This worthy' mind should ' worthy things embrace.
  • honourable or admirable
  • deserving, or having sufficient worth
  • Suited; befitting.
  • * Shakespeare
    • No, Warwick, thou art worthy of the sway.
  • * Bible, Matthew iii. 11
    • whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
  • * Milton
    • And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know / More happiness.
  • * Dryden
    • The lodging is well worthy of the guest.
    Derived terms
    * worthily * worthiness

    Noun

    (worthies)
  • a distinguished or eminent person

    • Related terms

    * -worthy * unworthy

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) worthien, wurthien, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To render or treat as worthy; exalt; revere; honour; esteem; respect; value; reward; adore.
    • And put upon him such a deal of man, That worthied him, got praises of the king [...]'' — Shakespeare, ''King Lear .
  • * 1880 , Sir Norman Lockyer, Nature :
    • After having duly paid his addresses to it, he generally spends some time on the marble slab in front of the looking-glass, but without showing the slightest emotion at the sight of his own reflection, or worthying it with a song.
  • * 1908 , Edward Arthur Brayley Hodgetts, The court of Russia in the nineteenth century :
    • And it is a poor daub besides," the Emperor rejoined scornfully, as he stalked out of the gallery without worthying the artist with a look.
  • * 1910 , Charles William Eliot, The Harvard classics: Beowulf :
    • No henchman he worthied by weapons, if witness his features, his peerless presence!
    Derived terms
    * (l) * (l) ----