different between comparison vs variance

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French comparison, from Latin compar?ti?, from compar?tus, perfect passive participle of compar?.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /k?m?p???s?n/, /k?m?pæ??s?n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k?m?pæ??s?n/

Noun

comparison (countable and uncountable, plural comparisons)

1. The act of comparing or the state or process of being compared.
2. An evaluation of the similarities and differences of one or more things relative to some other or each other.
   • 1841, Thomas Macaulay, Warren Hastings

     As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear a comparison with them.

   • 1850, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord

     The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison.

   • "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. […]"

3. With a negation, the state of being similar or alike.

4. (grammar) A feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe.

5. That to which, or with which, a thing is compared, as being equal or like; illustration; similitude.
6. (rhetoric) A simile.
7. (phrenology) The faculty of the reflective group which is supposed to perceive resemblances and contrasts.

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• panic rooms

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin compar?ti?.

Noun

comparison f (oblique plural comparisons, nominative singular comparison, nominative plural comparisons)

1. comparison (instance of comparing two or more things)

Descendants

• ? English: comparison
• French: comparaison
• Norman: compathaison

References

English

Alternative forms

• variaunce (obsolete)
• var (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle English variance, variaunce, from Old French variance or directly from Anglo-Latin variaunce, veriaunce, wariaunce; all from Latin variantia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?v???i.?ns/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?væ?i.?nts/ (Mary–marry–merry distinction)
• (US) IPA^(key): /?v??i.?nts/ (Mary–marry–merry merger)

Noun

variance (countable and uncountable, plural variances)

1. The act of varying or the state of being variable.
2. A difference between what is expected and what is observed; deviation.
3. The state of differing or being in conflict.
4. An official permit to do something that is ordinarily forbidden by regulations.
5. (law) A discrepancy between two legal documents.
6. (law) A departure from a cause of action originally in a complaint.
8. (statistics) The second central moment in probability.
9. (physics, chemistry, biology) The number of degrees of freedom in a system.
10. (computing, programming) Covariance and contravariance generally.

    Depending on the variance of the type constructor, the subtyping relation of the simple types may be either preserved, reversed, or ignored for the respective complex types.

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin variantia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /va.?j??s/
• Rhymes: -??s

Noun

variance f (plural variances)

1. variance

Further reading

• “variance” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).