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"comparative"

By Richard Nordquist, About.com

Definition:

The form of an adjective or adverb involving a comparison of more or less, greater or lesser.

Examples:

  • "There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government."
    (Benjamin Franklin)


  • "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
    (Mark Twain)


  • "It is easier to live through someone else than to become complete yourself."
    (Betty Friedan)


  • "[W]hen the science of happiness collided with pop culture and the marketplace, it morphed into something even its creators hardly recognized. There emerged 'a crowd of people out there who want you to be happier,' write Ed Diener and his son, Robert Biswas-Diener, in their book, Rethinking Happiness . . .. Somewhere out there a pharmaceutical company 'is working on a new drug to make you happier,' they warn. 'There are even people who would like to give you special ozone enemas to make you happier.'"
    (Sharon Begley, "Happiness: Enough Already," Newsweek, February 11, 2008)

Pronunciation: kom-PAR-a-tivAudio Link

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