Jump to content

Talk:comparable

Page contents not supported in other languages.
Add topic
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Latest comment: 1 year ago by 90.186.170.60

Two pronunciations for two uses?

I think in the US there are basically two words spelled "comparable" with two pronunciations. One with the weaker meaning "similar to", as in the example sentence An elephant is comparable in size to a bus, which has first syllable stress, and one that specifically emphasizes a verbal meaning of doing a comparison, which borrows its pronunciation from the verb. Lollipop (talk) 17:09, 11 April 2017 (UTC)Reply

I'm sure the choice depends a lot on how "deverbal" the adjective is in a given context. But it's hard to generalise because it depends on the speaker's train of thought. What I was going to admit is that it's always "compárable" in "comparable adjective". Then I saw that we already have a usage note to that effect. 90.186.170.60 18:02, 17 August 2023 (UTC)Reply