Meaning of equal in English

equal

adjective

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/ˈiː.kwəl/ us

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/ˈiː.kwəl/

equal adjective (SAME)

the same in amount, number, or size:

One litre is equal to 1.76 imperial pints.

One box may look bigger than the other, but in fact they are roughly (= almost) equal in volume.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

exactly like each other

the sameI have the same dress as her.
identicalThe employees all wore identical blue shirts.
indistinguishableThe counterfeit certificate was so good it was indistinguishable from the real thing.
equalFour groups of ten is equal to two groups of twenty.

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the same in importance and deserving the same treatment:

All people are equal, deserving the same rights as each other.

They've got a long way to go before they achieve equal pay/status for men and women.

More examples

Are the two bags equal in weight?
He believes that all children are born with equal intelligence.
We must make sure that everyone gets equal shares of the food.
Applicants should have a degree or a qualification of equal status.
One unit of alcohol is equal to half a pint of beer or a standard measure of spirits.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Similar and the same

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equal adjective (ABLE)

[ after verb ] formal

skilled or brave enough for a difficult duty or piece of work:

It's a challenging job but I'm sure you'll prove equal to it.

Is he equal to the task?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Skilled, talented and able

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equal

noun [ C ]

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/ˈiː.kwəl/ us

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/ˈiː.kwəl/

someone or something that has the same importance as someone or something else and deserves the same treatment:

The good thing about her as a boss is that she treats us all as equals.

Throughout her marriage she never considered her husband as her intellectual equal.

As an all-round athlete he has no equal (= no-one else is as good).

Synonym

match

Compare

peer noun

More examples

She found that if women did serious and worthwhile scientific work, male scientists were willing to treat them as equals.
As a friend and companion, no one could ever be her equal.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Organizations - position & status

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equal

verb [ L only + noun, T ]

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/ˈiː.kwəl/

-ll- or US usually -l-

equal verb [L only + noun, T] (BE THE SAME)

to be the same in value or amount as something else:

16 ounces equals one pound.

to achieve the same standard or level as someone else, or the same standard or level as you did before:

We raised over $500 for charity last year and we're hoping to equal that this year.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Being or appearing similar or the same

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equal verb [L only + noun, T] (RESULT IN)

to result in something:

He disputed the idea that more money equals better education.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Causing things to happen

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(Definition of equal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

equal | American Dictionary

equal

adjective

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/ˈi·kwəl/

equal adjective (SAME IN AMOUNT)

mathematics

(symbol =)

the same in amount, number, or size:

One quart is equal to four cups.

Divide the class into equal groups.

equal adjective (DESERVING THE SAME)

the same in importance and (of people) deserving the same treatment:

equal rights

We want a society that promotes equal opportunity for all of its citizens.

equally

adjective us

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/ˈi·kwə·li/

The money was shared equally among the three sisters.

equal

noun [ C ]

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/ˈi·kwəl/

equal noun [C] (PERSON/THING)

someone or something that is the same in amount, size, or importance as another person or thing:

In this country, we’re all equals with the same rights.

As an all-around athlete he has no equal (= no one else is as good).

equal

verb

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/ˈi·kwəl/

(symbol =)

equal verb (BE SAME IN AMOUNT)

mathematics

to be the same in amount, number, size, or importance as another:

[ L ] 10 + 10 = 20

[ T ] We hope to equal the amount of money we raised last year.

(Definition of equal from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

equal | Business English

equal

adjective

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/ˈiːkwəl/ us

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the same in price, number, size, etc.:

The values of cross-border and internal sales were about equal over the year.

an equal amount/number/share Instead of an equal share, we got only one-fifth of the profits.

equal to sth She received a bonus of $15,065, equal to 40% of her salary.

equal in number/value/size Sakhalin is an island north of Japan, with oil and gas reserves equal in size to those remaining in the North Sea.

treating everyone in the same way or allowing everyone to have the same opportunities:

Relationships within an organization are never equal.

Congress should focus its efforts on providing equal access to good quality education and job skills.

on an equal basis/footing/on equal terms By law, job applications from disabled people should be treated on an equal basis to those from non-disabled candidates.

all things being equal

if the situation remains the same as it is now, or continues as expected:

All things being equal, the market should have recovered by the end of the year.

be equal to (doing) sth

to have the ability, experience, or skill that is necessary to do something difficult:

I'm not sure he's equal to the demands of such a high-pressure job.

equal

verb [ T ]

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/ˈiːkwəl/ us

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UK -ll- | US -l-

to be the same in price, number, size, etc:

Pre-tax profits are likely to equal last year's despite a £41 million share buy-back programme.

Casinos currently pay tax equaling 20% of their gross revenue.

equal the cost/number/amount of sth If every household used energy-saving bulbs, the reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions would equal the amount produced by almost 800,000 cars.

if one thing equals another thing, it results in that thing:

Experience has shown us that more accountability equals better performance.

equal

noun [ C ]

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/ˈiːkwəl/ us

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someone or something who is as important, successful, etc. as someone or something else:

be the equal of sb/be sb's equal The EU increasingly sees itself as the equal of the US.

On a professional and personal level the two men were equals.

treat/accept/see sb as an equal Even though I was only a trainee, I was treated as an equal by the other staff.

(Definition of equal from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of equal

equal

Qualitative results do not change much, even if we do not impose the equal output-sharing rule from the beginning.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It was not an ordinary framework of international cooperation among equal participants, such as those dealing with collective security or global warming.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

More examples Fewer examples

It reinforces that crucial determinants are respect for multiple perspectives, equal distribution of power, clarity of practice model, and open communication styles and systems.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We obtain at the 2000 epoch, a sum squared error equals to 0.001, which represents a good result.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, we scored all parties as having a left-right position equal to its mean value over the entire post-war period.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Anxiety about the relativist abyss in which 'all pasts are equal' has thwarted efforts to evaluate alternatives to 'objective science'.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

An additive effect is when predation by two predators is equal to the sum of prey removed by each individual predator alone.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

And this is because the community manifests equal concern, and the rule is integral in defining rights and roles in the community.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Women were almost equal to men in strong, positive roles despite the fact that they were represented 870 times and men 1511 times.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

His decision to exclude secondary stresses (1999: 14), but to include two 'equal' stresses, is very problematic.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The mysticism of religion that is already supposed to transcend logic and rules is a theoretical equal to regulated political incommensurability.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Examples of such cases will be white surfaces and black surfaces, with all three reflection coefficients equal to 1 or to 0, respectively.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

But if coherence leads to not treating people as equals, as we argue, then local coherence loses its normative force.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Governments that are responsive are generally more legitimate than those that do not, and should experience less instability, all other things being equal, of course.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Other things held equal, the higher the net interest margin, the lower is the degree of competition.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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