different between similitude vs comparison

English

Etymology

From Old French

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /s??m?l?tju?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /s??m?l?tu?d/

Noun

similitude (countable and uncountable, plural similitudes)

1. (uncountable) Similarity or resemblance to something else.
   • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; ?ISBN

     Renaissance man thought in terms of similitudes: the theatre of life, the mirror of nature. […]
     Aemulation was similitude within distance: the sky resembled a face because it had “eyes” — the sun and moon.

2. (countable) A way in which two people or things share similitude.
   • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 67, The Renaissance Episteme (Totem Books, Icon Books; ?ISBN

     Renaissance man thought in terms of 'similitudes': the theatre of life, the mirror of nature. […]
     Aemulation was similitude within distance: the sky resembled a face because it had “eyes” — the sun and moon.

3. (countable) Someone or something that closely resembles another; a duplicate or twin.
   • 1852, Wilkie Collins, Nine O'Clock!

     If I was certain of anything in the world, I was certain that I had seen my brother in the study — nay, more, had touched him, — and equally certain that I had seen his double — his exact similitude, in the garden.

4. A parable or allegory.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew XIII:

     And he spake many thynges to them in similitudes, sayinge: Beholde, the sower wentt forth to sowe, And as he sowed, some fell by the wayes side [...].

Derived terms

• antisimilitude

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin similit?dinem, accusative singular of similit?d? (“likeness, similitude”); from similis.

Noun

similitude f (plural similitudes)

1. similitude

Further reading

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

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