equal

adjective

1. 1

   The same in one or more respects.

   Near-synonyms: equivalent; see also Thesaurus:equal

2. 2

   The same in one or more respects. The same in value (status, merit, etc): having or deserving the same rights or treatment.

   We hold that all men are created equal and are thus equal under the law.

   All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than the others.

   [Under] the combat exclusion [preventing women from serving in combat...] Women are not equal citizens; women are a certain kind of citizen, a separate class with distinctly lower status.

   […] women and men should be equal regarding civil rights / the right to occupational work.

3. 3

   The same in one or more respects. The same in all respects that matter practically; interchangeable, fungible, or (even sometimes) identical for practical purposes.

   Equal conditions should produce equal results.

   All else being equal, we can expect this factor to have no discernible effect by itself.

   They who are not disposed to receive them may let them alone or reject them; it is equal to me.

4. 4

   The same in one or more respects. Exactly identical, having the same value.

   All right angles are equal.

   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.

5. 5

   obsoleteFair, impartial.

   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.

   Are not my ways equal?

   Thee, O Jove, no equall judge I deem.

6. 6

   Adequate; sufficiently capable or qualified.

   This test is pretty tough, but I think I'm equal to it.

   be equal to the task

   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.

   her comprehension was certainly more equal to the covert meaning, the superior intelligence, of those five letters so arranged.

7. 7

   obsoleteNot variable; equable; uniform; even.

   an equal movement

   an equal temper

8. 8

   Intended for voices of one kind only, either all male or all female; not mixed.

verb

1. 1

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

   Two plus two equals four.

2. 2

   To make equivalent to; to cause to match.

   David equaled the water levels of the bottles, so they now both contain exactly 1 liter.

   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.

3. 3

   To match in degree or some other quality, to match up to.

   And what delights can equal those ⁠That stir the spirit’s inner deeps, ⁠When one that loves but knows not, reaps A truth from one that loves and knows?

4. 4

   informalTo have as consequence, to amount to, to mean.

   Losing this deal equals losing your job.

   Might does not equal right.

   Eclectic and sophisticated are hence coded as negative traits–so cool equaling not so cool–putting Swift in seemed lockstep with the anti-intellectual sentiment that's led to the astonishing 21st-Century Bubbafication of the Republican Party.

noun

1. 1

   A person or thing of equal status to others.

   We're all equals here.

   This beer has no equal.

   Those who were once his equals envy and defame him.

   The two who have no equals become friends without equal.

2. 2

   obsoleteState of being equal; equality.

   Thou that presum'st to weigh the world anew, And all things to an equall to restore.

Forms

plural

equals

comparative

more equal

superlative

most equal

past tense

equaled, equalled

past participle

equaled, equalled

present participle

equaling, equalling

third person singular

equals