Alternative forms

• æquivalent (archaic)
• eq. (abbreviation)

Etymology

From LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#EQUIVALENT aequivalentemCategory:English undefined derivations#EQUIVALENT, accusative singular of aequivalēns, present active participle of aequivaleō (“to be equivalent, have equal power”). By surface analysis, equi- +‎ -valentCategory:English terms prefixed with equi-#VALENTCategory:English terms suffixed with -valent#EQUIVALENT.

Mostly displaced native Middle English efenmete (See evenmete).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈkwɪvələnt/Category:English 4-syllable words#EQUIVALENTCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#EQUIVALENT

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#EQUIVALENT

Adjective

equivalent (comparative more equivalent, superlative most equivalent)Category:English lemmas#EQUIVALENTCategory:English adjectives#EQUIVALENTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with entries#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with 4 entries#EQUIVALENT

1. Similar or identical in value, meaning or effect; virtually equal.

   Synonym: on a par

   To burn calories, a thirty-minute jog is equivalent to a couple of hamburgers.Category:English terms with usage examples#EQUIVALENT

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     For now to serve and to minister, servile and ministerial, are terms equivalent.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

   • 2012 March, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3:

     A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

   • 2024 November 15, Kristen Rogers, “Want to live an extra 5 to 10 years? Adopt this habit, study suggests”, in CNN‎, archived from the original on 11 July 2025:

     Total activity levels in the lowest quartile were equivalent to walking for 49 minutes at roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) per hour daily. Total activity levels in the second-, third- and fourth-highest quartiles were equivalent to 78, 105 and 160 minutes, respectively.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

2. (mathematicsCategory:en:Mathematics#EQUIVALENT) Of two sets, having a one-to-one correspondence.

   Synonym: equinumerous

   • 1950, E. Kamke, Theory of Sets, page 16:

     All enumerable sets are equivalent to each other, but not to any finite set.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

   • 2000, N. L. Carothers, Real Analysis, page 18:

     Equivalent sets should, by rights, have the same "number" of elements. For this reason we sometimes say that equivalent sets have the same cardinality.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

   • c. 2005, P N Gupta Kulbhushan, Comprehensive MCQ's in Mathematics, page 3:

     Finite sets A and B are equivalent sets only when n(A) = n(B) i.e., the number of elements in A and B are equal.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

   • 2006, Joseph Breuer, Introduction to the Theory of Sets, page 41:

     The equivalence theorem: If both M is equivalent to a subset N₁ of N and N is equivalent to a subset M₁ of M, then the sets M and N are equivalent to each other.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

3. (mathematicsCategory:en:Mathematics#EQUIVALENT) Relating to the corresponding elements of an equivalence relation.
4. (mathematicsCategory:en:Mathematics#EQUIVALENT, category theoryCategory:en:Category theory#EQUIVALENT) Of two categories, (informally) such that one is essentially a relabeling of the other; (formally) related by a pair of functors such the composition of the one with the other is naturally isomorphic to the identity functor.
5. (chemistryCategory:en:Chemistry#EQUIVALENT) Having the equal ability to combine.
6. (cartographyCategory:en:Cartography#EQUIVALENT) Of a map, equal-area.
7. (geometryCategory:en:Geometry#EQUIVALENT) Equal in measure but not admitting of superposition; applied to magnitudes.

   A square may be equivalent to a triangle.Category:English terms with usage examples#EQUIVALENT

Noun

equivalent (plural equivalents)Category:English lemmas#EQUIVALENTCategory:English nouns#EQUIVALENTCategory:English countable nouns#EQUIVALENTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with entries#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with 4 entries#EQUIVALENT

1. Anything that is virtually equal to something else, or has the same value, force, etc.

   Coordinate term: counterpart

   • 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter VII, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     He owned that, if the Test Act were repealed, the Protestants were entitled to an equivalent, and went so far as to suggest several equivalents.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

   • 1977 April 18, Jimmy Carter, President's Address to the Nation on Proposed National Energy Policy:

     Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" — except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.

     Category:English terms with quotations#EQUIVALENT

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
2. (chemistryCategory:en:Chemistry#EQUIVALENT) An equivalent weight.

Verb

equivalent (third-person singular simple present equivalents, present participle equivalenting, simple past and past participle equivalented)Category:English lemmas#EQUIVALENTCategory:English verbs#EQUIVALENTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with entries#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with 4 entries#EQUIVALENT

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#EQUIVALENT) To make equivalent to; to equal.

Etymology 1

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Catalan terms borrowed from Latin#EQUIVALENTCategory:Catalan terms derived from Latin#EQUIVALENT aequivalentem. First attested in 1696.^[1]

Etymology 2

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle FrenchCategory:Dutch terms borrowed from Middle French#EQUIVALENTCategory:Dutch terms derived from Middle French#EQUIVALENT équivalent, from LatinCategory:Dutch terms derived from Latin#EQUIVALENT aequivalēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌeː.kʋi.vaːˈlɛnt/Category:Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation#EQUIVALENT

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Dutch terms with audio pronunciation#EQUIVALENT
• Hyphenation: equi‧va‧lent
• Rhymes: -ɛntCategory:Rhymes:Dutch/ɛnt#EQUIVALENT

Adjective

equivalent (not comparable)Category:Dutch lemmas#EQUIVALENTCategory:Dutch adjectives#EQUIVALENTCategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with entries#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with 4 entries#EQUIVALENT

1. equivalent

Noun

equivalent n (plural equivalenten, no diminutive)Category:Dutch lemmas#EQUIVALENTCategory:Dutch nouns#EQUIVALENTCategory:Dutch nouns with plural in -en#EQUIVALENTCategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#EQUIVALENTCategory:Dutch neuter nouns#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with entries#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with 4 entries#EQUIVALENT

1. equivalent

Etymology

From LatinCategory:Occitan terms derived from Latin#EQUIVALENT aequivalēns.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

  Category:Occitan terms with audio pronunciation#EQUIVALENT

Adjective

equivalent m (feminine singular equivalenta, masculine plural equivalents, feminine plural equivalentas)Category:Occitan lemmas#EQUIVALENTCategory:Occitan adjectives#EQUIVALENTCategory:Occitan entries with incorrect language header#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with entries#EQUIVALENTCategory:Pages with 4 entries#EQUIVALENT

1. equivalent