Comparaison

Comparaison, or comparison, is the act of evaluating two or more items to identify similarities and differences. It is a fundamental cognitive operation used in everyday judgment as well as scientific inquiry. The term derives from Latin comparatio through French comparaison, and in English "comparison" has analogous uses across disciplines.

In linguistics and grammar, comparison is the degree system of adjectives and adverbs. Most languages distinguish a positive form from comparative and superlative forms. English uses -er/-est or more/most, with irregulars such as good/better/best and bad/worse/worst. Some languages rely on periphrasis or different devices to express similarity or contrast.

In mathematics, logic, and statistics, comparison means assessing quantities, magnitudes, or values. Operations such as >, <, and = enable decision making; statistical methods use pairwise or group comparisons, rankings, and benchmarking to evaluate performance or hypotheses.

In rhetoric and literature, comparison appears as simile or metaphor, drawing parallels to explain, persuade, or illuminate. In research and evaluation, careful design is required to avoid biased comparisons, including controlling for confounding factors and ensuring comparable samples.