comparative

1. 1.

   relating to or based on or involving comparison

   “comparative linguistics”

   “the comparative form of an adjective”
2. 2.

   estimated by comparison; not absolute or complete

   “a relative stranger”

   Synonymsrelative

   Similarrelational

1. 1.

   the comparative form of an adjective or adverb

   “`faster' is the comparative of the adjective `fast'”

   “`less famous' is the comparative degree of the adjective `famous'”

   “`more surely' is the comparative of the adverb `surely'”

   Synonymscomparative degree

   Broaderadjectiveadverb

Other forms of comparative

plural

comparatives·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about comparative

What does comparative mean?

comparative means "relating to or based on or involving comparison". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in comparative?

comparative has 4 syllables: com-par-a-tive. The stress falls on "par". In IPA it is /kəmˈpɛɹətɪv/.

What is another word for comparative?

Close synonyms include relative, comparative degree. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is comparative a common word?

comparative is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with comparative?

1 word rhymes with comparative. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.