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单词 equal
释义

equal

See also: Equal.

English

Alternative forms

  • æqual, æquall (both archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English equal, from Latin aequālis. Doublet of aequalis and egal.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈiːkwəl/
  • (dialectal, archaic) IPA(key): /ˈiːkəl/[1]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːkwəl

Adjective

equal (not generally comparable, comparative more equal, superlative most equal)

  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 222716698:
      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 964384981, 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 960102938, 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 14, Herman Melville, chapter X, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:
      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, II or III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, OCLC 1708336:
      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 937919305:
      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 228732415:
      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 625986:
      […] 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 80026745:
      an equal temper
  6. (music) Intended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female; not mixed.

Usage notes

  • In mathematics, this adjective can be used in phrases like "A and B are equal", "A is equal to B", and, less commonly, "A is equal with B".
  • The most common comparative use is the ironic expression more equal.

Synonyms

  • (the same in all respects): identical
  • (the same in all relevant respects): equivalent
  • (unvarying): even, fair, uniform, unvarying

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

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.
    • 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.
    David equaled the water levels of the bottles, so they now both contain exactly 1 liter.
  3. (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
  • (informal, have as its consequence): entail, imply, lead to, mean, result in, spell

z

Translations

Noun

equal (countable and uncountable, plural equals)

  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 191120697:
      Those who were once his equals envy and defame him.
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 192:
      The two who have no equals become friends without equal.
    • 2005, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler, On Grief and Grieving, →ISBN, page 150:
      They had hoped their son, a stockbroker, would marry a financial equal, but Suzette, a teacher, did not come from money.
  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 960102938:
      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

Derived terms

terms derived from all parts of speech
  • all else being equal
  • all things being equal
  • comedy equals tragedy plus time
  • equal-area
  • equal hour
  • equal-interval chord
  • equalize/equalise
  • equally
  • equal marriage
  • equal opportunity
  • equal-opportunity
  • equal pay
  • equal pay for equal work
  • equal rights
  • equal sign
  • equal temperament
  • equal weight
  • first among equals
  • in equal measure
  • not equal sign
  • on an equal footing
  • on equal footing
  • on equal terms
  • unequal
  • equality

References

  1. Hall, Joseph Sargent (March 2, 1942), “3. The Consonants”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, DOI:10.7312/hall93950, →ISBN, § 2, page 88.

Anagrams

  • Quale, quale, queal

Middle English

Alternative forms

  • equale

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aequālis, of unknown origin. Doublet of egal.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɛːkwal/, /ɛːˈkwaːl/

Adjective

equal (Late Middle English)

  1. identical in amount, extent, or portion
  2. even or smooth (of surface)

Descendants

  • English: equal
  • Scots: aiqual

References

  • “ēquā̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
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